What You Don't Know CAN Hurt you
by Napitzlol
Summary: Double D finally got up the courage to talk to Marie again after he found out he shared a class with her, but she holds a dark secret that could shatter him both mentally and emotionally.
1. Chapter 1

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

"I passed through that corridor, where they sat, where they are, and when you penetrate to the most high God, you will believe you are mad. You will believe you've gone insane. But I tell you if you follow the secret window and you die to the ego nature you will penetrate this darkness."  
Godspeed You Black Emperor was whispering from Marie's iPod as she lay in bed, and stared at the ceiling. She had been in high school for three years, and it has been a big disappointment. When she was in middle school, everyone was talking about it. They made it sound exciting. But now that she has been here for three years, it has lost all of its appeal. The Eds were still here but she hasn't talked to them for a couple years. Her sisters still lived with her but they had their own lives and were kind of detached from her. Day in day out, it was basically the same thing. She went to school, came home, and sat in her room doing whatever her attention was on at the time. She missed middle school. She wanted to have friends again. Well, she wouldn't call the Eds friends, but they were at least entertainment. Especially Double D. She found it cute how he froze at the mere presence of her. She started to avoid physical contact when she found out it made him lose consciousness. As nice as it was to have a boy faint over you, it wasn't good for his health. [Yeah, because I totally cared about his health at the time... sigh, he most likely hates me for all the stuff I've done to him] she thought. He was the only Ed she could see herself talking to. If she ever did talk to them again. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, and dream about the good times she once had.

The next morning, she woke up and went to school. There was a group worksheet in class that got interrupted by the teacher announcing a late transfer student.  
"Class, I would like you to meet Edd. He just transferred in from a regular science class because of a scheduling error."  
She assigned partners to everyone and then assigned the "new student" to Marie.  
"You still live here? I thought for sure I'd scared you off with all the times I've forced myself on you." She casually reminded him of the old days.  
"Uh, y-yeah. I'm still here." Double D stuttered out.  
Neither of them said anything else during the rest of the class, and just finished their worksheets.

The rest of her classes were all with random people, so she didn't really look around. After trudging through 6th hour, she was finally going home. [Not really sure if he is scared of me or just hates me. Who am I kidding? It's probably both] she thought as she walked up the stairs to her room. [well, here I am again… same four walls… same bed… different day…] she sighed and fell backwards onto her bed, letting the sound of "Fade to Black" from Marie's iPod wash over her; she almost always had it on whenever she was not at school. [Life does seem to be fading away. Kevin, Nazz, Rolf, even that weirdo Johnny have moved away. And now with my sisters off to college, I have no one left.] She thought. The longer she listened to the song, the more it seemed to describe her life over the past 3 years. She was slowly falling into a trance from the song's slow pace, until it disagreed with her.

"Death greets me warm, now I will just say 'good bye'….good bye…" the iPod sang firmly. [NO. I cannot give up. If I am ever to get out of this void, I have to be strong. After this year in high school, I can go to college and rejoin my sisters. It will be a start, at least.] She pulled herself out of her trance and paused the iPod. She decided to go to the store to get some orange juice; there was none in the house, and she needed to go grocery shopping anyway.

After a few minutes of walking around in the store, she decided she didn't feel like grocery shopping. She went to the juice aisle to get what she originally came for; [I'll come back later sometime for the rest] she thought as she reached for the usual bottle of orange juice. At the same time; another hand had reached for the same bottle, but recoiled as if it touched hot coals. She looked to see who it was and saw that it was Double D.

"First you switch into my class, now you're trying to steal my orange juice?" she teased him.

"I… uh… s-sorry." Double D forced out; he was blushing slightly and seemed to be shivering.

"Take it easy, kid." she said lightly as she walked away with the bottle in her hand. As she was handing her card to the cashier, she saw him slowly emerge from the juice aisle and walk towards the register.

When she got home, she poured herself a glass of orange juice and sat down to finish her homework. It was just a simple "what I did over the summer" essay. [This is so middle school…but whatever] she grumbled mentally and got to writing. She quickly discovered, however, that she had almost nothing to write about. All she did was sit at home most of the summer and listen to her iPod. She went to the pool a couple times and drew a couple pictures, but it wasn't anything worth writing about. She decided to write about it anyway, just to kill some time. It only took her a few minutes to write down everything that happened over the summer, and only made her mood worse than it already was. She unplugged her iPod from the computer and decided to take a walk. She walked outside and went straight for the forest in the back of the trailer park; her usual place to escape from the park, the cul-de-sac, and everything else. She walked past a tree that had a heart scratched into it with "Marie 3 Double D" on the inside. [Oh, Lee. You and your stories of how me and Double D get married and move to the big city.] She smiled as the memory of Lee scratching the heart into the tree floated through her mind. The memory got interrupted, however, when it got to the part of Lee starting on Double D's name, by her tripping over something on the forest floor. She turn around, expecting to see a tree branch or a root, but saw Double D, now a bright shade of red, sitting leaned against the tree.

"You again? Are you following me?" Marie asked; she was mostly neutral when he was around her, but she did not feel like company in her current mood.

"I… sorry… I just c-came out for some fresh air. I didn't think I would…" Double D trailed off.

"Whatever. Just don't let it happen again." She grumbled and continued walking in the same direction she was going.

It was getting dark, so Marie decided to head home. It took a little longer than she thought because she didn't fully know where she was at first; she got lost listening to her iPod and didn't care to watch where she was going. She finally got home, but it really didn't help her mood. There was no May or Lee to call her a "party animal" or ask if she was out with anyone they knew. She walked to the fridge to get another glass of juice, but noticed there was some liquor inside the door.

"No food in the house, but you have liquor? When we can't even legally drink? Only you, Lee." Marie smirked as she took it out of the fridge door.

"Screw it, I'm getting drunk tonight. No sense in this just sitting around, especially with May and Lee gone, no one else is gonna drink it. And it's not like I'll have guests over that are of legal age. Hell, not like I'll have guests period." She scoffed as she poured herself a shot. She wasn't much of a drinker, so she decided she'd had enough after her second shot; it was straight liquor, and it was only her second time drinking, so it hit her pretty hard. She put the bottle back in the fridge and sat back down on the bar stool to level herself. After zoning out for a few minutes, she decided she was going to go prank call some people; it was possibly the best thing Lee showed her. She picked up the phone and dialed Kevin's number, forgetting that he moved out of town during her sophomore year.

"The number you have reached is either disconnected or is no longer in service." a monotone voice squawked through the phone. She dialed Nazz's phone number but got the same result.

"Bah, I don't need phone numbers. I can make my own." she grumbled and hit a random set of numbers.  
"Oh wow, it's actually ringing." Marie was surprised that her drunken dialing actually guessed a real number.

"Anotucci residence, Double D speaking." an all-too-familiar voice answered the phone.

"What do you want this time?" Marie slurred.

"M-Marie? Is that you?" Double D asked nervously.

"Yeah, it's me. Howid you get nis thumber?" Marie was starting to lose control of her speech.

"Marie! I never would have thought you the type! You're intoxicated by way of illegally consuming an alcoholic beverage. I hope you're alright." Double D sounded genuinely worried.

"I'm fine. Won't you durry." she vainly lied.

"I'm coming over to make sure you don't hurt yourself. Or God forbid, drive somewhere." Double D told her and hung up.

"I'm fine, really." Marie told the dial tone.

"Oh. He hung up. He should know better than to lang up on a hady." She mumbled to herself as she hung up the phone. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

"Lee, can you get that?" Marie called, but didn't hear an answer.

"Oh… right…" she got up and lumbered towards the front door. She unlocked the door and went to sit on the couch.

"It's open" she told her guest. Double D came in and locked the door behind him.

"Come sit with me, Doublededed." Marie invited him to the couch.

"It worries me to see you like this, Marie. Is everything alright? Where are May and Lee?" Double D asked.

"What do you need them for? I've got everything you need right here." Marie boasted in slurred speech as she leaned towards Double D; she consequently lost her balance and fell on him. Her lips fell onto his and her tongue seemed to free fall into his mouth. Double D was paralyzed and blushing so intensely he was radiating heat. Marie finally got up, letting Double D breathe easier.

"Wow, it's suddenly hot in here." She said as she took off her shirt. Double D's eyes widened to their limits.

"Marie! What are you-" he started to protest but was interrupted by Marie's shirt landing on his face.

"Shut up, I'm not gonna sweat over some nerd boy." she grumbled. She retained balance for a few more seconds then fell on Double D again. After a few minutes of slowly shifting under the force of gravity, she fell on the floor next to the couch. Double D waited for ten minutes for Marie to get up again, but no dice. He took a blanket off of the back of the couch and covered her with it.

"Well, that's all I can do. I'll check up on her tomorrow." Double D sighed and went home.


	2. Chapter 2

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Marie woke up in the morning, feeling like she had slept in a vice.

"Ugh, what am I doing on the floor? And why is my shirt off?" she mumbled to herself.

"Whatever. At least it's only my shirt and not my pants. Probably just gave some guy I hallucinated into existence a half-show and then passed out." She guessed dismissively. She went into the kitchen to look in the pantry for something to eat, but didn't find anything. She checked the fridge, but since she didn't go grocery shopping yesterday, there was nothing in there. Well, aside from the orange juice and the bottle of liquor.

"Why didn't I go grocery shopping yesterday?" she grumbled. It was Saturday so she didn't have to go to school. She put a different shirt on and went to the store; she had to go buy groceries eventually, so she might as well do it now. She got a shopping cart and started going down the mental list in her head. She was about half-way through when she ran into Double D, who was also grocery shopping.

"You keep following me like this, people are gonna start thinking you like me." Marie teased.

"I…uh… well…" Double D stuttered as he started blushing. He wasn't sure if he liked her or not. There was obviously something there since he showed up to her house to keep her safe while she was drunk.

"You… l-looks like you've got a considerable amount of groceries. Would you like some help in carrying them home? I mean... if you don't mind the company…" he offered nervously.

"I'm not done yet. But if you want to stalk me for another 10 minutes, I should be ready" she said with a smirk and continued shopping.

"Oh…I…I'll just go then…" Double D said timidly.

"Some help would be nice, actually. Just give me 10 minutes." Marie clearly accepted his offer. She almost wanted to feel like things were starting to look up for her, but she didn't want to be disappointed later on down the road when it turned out to be a false hope. She finished her shopping and went to check out. She was going out the door when she remembered she didn't have a car.

"I'm in AP Physics, but I forgot I didn't have a car. What the hell, Marie…" she asked herself.

"I hope you're not planning to take that shopping cart home." Double D said, unusually without stuttering.

"Oh you know. A shopping cart and the wheel grooves it leaves behind is just what my yard needs." Marie joked.

"I'll go get my car so I can help you safely transport your groceries." Double D said as he walked towards the parking lot. A few minutes later he pulled up to the entrance, and got out to help her load everything into the car. It was a silent and borderline awkward ride back to the trailer park. When they got to the trailer park, she carried everything inside, and came out to thank him.

"Thank you for helping. Because I really was planning to take that cart home if you weren't there." Marie told him.

"No problem. I… I guess call me next time you go shopping? I don't want you to have to force a full cart down this gravel road." Double D offered nervously.

"Um… yeah… will do" Marie sounded slightly nervous for once.

"You… you called me yesterday, so I guess you have my number?" Double D asked her; he wasn't sure if she just wasn't talking about last night or if she didn't remember.

"What? I didn't call anyone yesterday" Marie sounded confused.

"Well, you were kind of drunk… and you thought I called you..." Double D said to try to refresh her memory.

"Oh. OH! What did I do yesterday? I…no!" Marie blushed and ran inside the house and shut the door. Double D felt bad that he embarrassed her by telling her that he knew she was drunk. There was nothing he could do about it now, so he just went home.

[Now it all makes sense. I drunk dialed him, he came over to make sure I was alright, and somewhere in the time that he was over at my house, I lost my shirt. He probably hates me even more now. I lulled him into a false sense of security by pretending that I was over the whole "ambush him with a kiss" thing, and then sprang on him shirtless with the home field advantage. I would bet money that is exactly what he is thinking. Great job, Marie. You have scared away the 1 person that you liked. You are now truly alone.] Her mind was racing faster than a Jimmy John's delivery guy. She was actually so caught up in her whirlwind of thoughts, she didn't notice that her mind said she liked Double D. She plugged in her iPod and put on "Stein Um Stein"1 as loud as the computer would go; turning it down slightly after the song got 45 seconds in because it was hurting her ears. The rest of the weekend went by in a haze of music and drawings of Double D doing the "Scream" face while a shirtless Marie eyed him coquettishly.

Monday's Science class knew what had transpired over the weekend and knew just what to throw at Marie. A group project. The bell rang but Double D was still not in class. [He's never late… oh no… what if he switched out because of yesterday? How will I talk to him now?] Her mind was gathering speed but was quickly stopped by the teacher explaining the project and assigning her a partner. The rest of class and the school day went by with no sign of Double D. She went home and decided not to think about him for a few days; after Friday night, he will probably never talk to her again anyway so it will only bring pain to think about him. She couldn't sit at home so she went to the forest to try to relax. She was walking around aimlessly until she heard Agalloch playing faintly in the distance.

" The fire… eyes one day… tore the soul from my chest… bleeding heart, I flew back…my cold tower….never escape… of death, forever…" she heard fragments of "She painted fire across the sky" echo through the forest. She followed the song to find out where it was coming from. After about a minute of following the song, she saw Double D's shoe peeking out from behind a tree. [It's Double D! I… can't go over there. Not so soon after what happened. I just hope he hasn't seen me.] She thought and slowly made her way out of the forest. She got home and went to pick up her sketchbook to draw; it always helped her calm down. She opened it and saw that it was full of various drawings involving a scared to death Double D and a shirtless Marie. [This is not helping. I need to go buy a new sketchbook I guess. This one I will put a warning label on. "Open at your own risk". Like it's some Japanese porn novel or some shit.] She thought as she left to the store.

She had to sit down outside the store for a few minutes because it was further than the walk for groceries. She was only inside for a few minutes because she knew exactly what she needed. She was at the cash register when she realized she forgot her wallet at home. She was about to turn around to walk home when an arm reached towards the card reader and she heard a voice say "I'll get it". It was Double D.

"D-Double D, I...-" she was surprised to see him at this store only a few minutes after seeing him in the forest; he had caught her by such surprise she used his real name.

"It's ok, Marie. I don't mind." Double D assured her.

"I…" she began but didn't know what to say.

"Do you need a ride home? It's dark and a bit far to travel by foot." He offered.

"Uh...y-yeah… sure, if you don't mind" Marie sounded nervous again. She walked out of the store with him and got in the car. There was the usual awkward silence at first, and then Marie finally decided to speak.

"I… I'm sorry about Friday… and yesterday. I just felt terrible. You came over to make sure I was safe and I…."she trailed off. Double D said nothing. He pulled up to her house and she got out.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow?" she asked nervously. Again, he said nothing. She closed the car door and went home. [Yeah. He hates me. Job well fucking done. But I know exactly how to make myself feel better: drink more liquor and maybe this time lose my pants!] She thought sarcastically. [No. I can't. Things are already highly uncertain and most likely bad with Double D. I shouldn't make it any worse than it already is. ] she pushed the thought of drinking out of her head. She drew some pictures of Double D sword fighting with a Liquor bottle, and then went to bed.

Next day in class was just a normal class period. Double D didn't say anything to Marie even though she knows he saw her. Class seemed to go by really fast; when the bell rang, he just got up and left without saying a word. [Ok. That's it. I am finishing that bottle today. I don't even care.] She mentally cursed herself, Double D, the liquor bottle, and everything else. School went by pretty fast, and she was glad to leave for the day; at least at home she wouldn't be reminded of him. As soon as she walked in the door, she went straight to the phone to hide it. As she was going to hide it, however, she realized something. [Wait….I thought I didn't care anymore. But here I am hiding the phone. Maybe instead of hiding it, I should call him. I didn't think it was possible at first, but I think at least part of me wants him around.]She thought as she went to sit on the couch and dial his number.

"Anotucci residence, Edd speaking." Double D answered the phone again.

"Double D… can you come over? I need to talk to you." Marie asked him, slightly nervous.

"Are you of sound mind this time?" Double D replied.

"Yes. I won't drink this time." Marie told him. [But you ultimately decide how faithful I stay to that promise] she thought to herself. There was an awkward silence, and then Double D hung up. Marie just sat there, holding the receiver.

"We're sorry; your call did not go through. Please hang up and try again" the phone squawked because it had been on the line for so long and nothing got dialed. [Fuck your promise, I'm going to go kill that liquor] she thought as she hung up the phone and got up to head to the fridge. She took three steps toward the fridge and heard knocking at the door. She instantly turned around and went to see who it is. [He actually showed up! Maybe he doesn't hate me after all! Or maybe he showed up to tell me off once and for all and tell me just how much he hates me. Either way he showed up!] She thought excitedly as she fumbled with the lock.

"Hi…come in" Marie greeted him.

"Hello… I'm glad you look happier this time." Double D noticed that she looked even more attractive now that she was sober. They sat down on the couch, and Marie decided to cut to the chase.

"I'm sorry about forcing myself onto you on Friday. And then for running inside so suddenly on Sunday. After waking up without a shirt on, and then you telling me I was drunk when I called you Friday, it all made sense. You came over to keep me safe, and I just pounced on you. You probably hate me or think I'm some whore because I don't really know you and I'm already losing my shirt around you. So that's why when you told me on Sunday, I got really embarrassed and ran inside." Marie explained her behavior between Sunday and Tuesday.

"Although you did intimidate me by disrobing with such alacrity, I understand. I will overlook this incident if you try to control yourself." Double D's wording was making it sound more serious than she thought it was.

"Disrobing sounds like I got naked. I only took my shirt off. And incident? You can't tell me there wasn't at least a part of you that liked it." Marie picked at his statement. Double D blushed slightly and turned away to try to hide it, but Marie noticed before he could hide it.

"I… I wish you wouldn't talk like that." Double D said timidly.

"Oh, please. We are seniors in high school. Hell, in 6 months, I'll be old enough to vote, buy porn and smoke cigarettes. This isn't middle school anymore."

"Also in 6 months, I'll be legal, so you will be able to do more than take my shirt off." Marie teased.

"Marie, I…" Double D started to talk but trailed off.

"I'm sorry. I called you over here to apologize for Friday, but I feel like I'm not acting much different now from Friday. Well, the major difference being I'm sober and not taking my shirt off." Marie apologized.

"I… you are too intense for my mind to process properly at times." Double D explained his occasional awkwardness. According to Marie it wasn't just "occasional", but she wasn't going to pick at that.

"Well, I have to go. I have homework that needs to be done, and most likely my parents have some tasks for me. It was a pleasure talking" Double added, and was out the door. [So what was that? That wasn't just mixed signals, that was a dirty Roman orgy of signals. I'm sure that did nothing but confuse both of us even more.] When Double D told her she called him while she was drunk, her mind was racing. Now, it was like her mind was moving about as fast as a lifeguard on Baywatch. [Homework. Yeah. Sure. I know how smart he is. I know he doesn't need _that _much time to do it. But whatever. I don't want to push him too hard and lose him.] She didn't believe his homework excuse, but she had to accept it for the time being.

A thunderclap ripped through the otherwise quiet evening, followed by pouring rain. These kinds of thunderstorms always scared Marie because nothing good ever happened during them; sometimes, they brought natural disasters with them as well as unnatural ones. [I'm going to go call Double D. at least we can be scared together. And maybe he will jump in my lap from a thunderclap.] She thought to herself and smiled. She picked up her cell phone and called dialed his number.  
"Hi... Um.. How are you?" Double D answered nervously.  
"Can you come over? I hate being alone in a thunderstorm." Marie asked him.  
"Uh...y-yeah, sure. I'll be over in a few minutes." Double D didn't fully sound like he wanted to leave his house, but he was doing so anyway so that's all that mattered.

1: © Rammstein.


	3. Chapter 3

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Double D got dressed and headed out to his car. He drove slowly because he could barely see anything on account of it being dark and pouring rain. When he pulled up to Marie's house, there was an unfamiliar car parked next to one of the other mobile homes; probably someone visiting one of the other tenants, so he didn't pay much attention to it. He walked up to the door of Marie's house and went inside.

The living room was strangely empty, but the light was on. [She probably in her room and didn't hear me come in. I go let her know I'm here.] He thought as he walked to her room. When he entered the hallway, he heard what sounded like a muffled giggle. He walked up to Marie's room and stood there for a few seconds; her light was off so it was unclear what he would be walking into. He gathered himself and turned the door knob; he knew if he knocked, she would laugh at him. Right when he stepped into the room, a string of lightning flashes shined through the open blinds and illuminated the pair of shadowy figures on the bed. It was Marie and some girl he didn't recognize. Marie was naked and the other girl was in just her underwear with Marie's hand coming out of it; Marie's lips were locked with the other girl's. A deafening crash of thunder shook the mobile home right after the last of the chain of lightning flashes flickered through the sky.  
"Ma..." was all Double D managed to say before he lost consciousness; the sound of his body collapsing to the floor alerted the couple to his presence which was now purely physical.  
"Double D! Knock next time, you fool!" She exclaimed and went to check if he was ok.  
"Shit! He's not breathing!" She gasped and immediately started CPR. Meanwhile, the other girl sat paralyzed with fear. [I just watched her boyfriend stroke out from walking in on us. I feel terrible. He's going to break up with her as soon as he comes to. If he comes to. Oh no. No. What if he doesn't? No. He has to. I won't be able to live with myself if he doesn't. The best thing for me to do now is leave.] She thought. A few minutes passed and she finally regained control of her body.  
"I better go. I'm sorry. For everything. I hope everything works out." She apologized and was out the door before Marie could say anything. Double D woke up to a naked Marie breathing into his mouth.  
"Mmmph!" Double D's muffled voice let Marie know he was conscious again.  
"W-what was that about?" Double D asked.  
"N-nothing. You weren't supposed to see that. Don't worry about it." Marie said quickly as she blushed.  
"I... I think I'm going to..." Double D's voicing of his wish to leave was interrupted by an angrier than usual clap of thunder.  
"No, please don't!" Marie threw her arms around him. Part of Double D wanted to leave, but he just could not will himself to move.  
"Please stay. At least until the thunderstorm is over." Marie pleaded with him.  
"A-alright. But please, no more surprises. I almost bought the farm from the last one." Double D reluctantly agreed. Marie slowly let go of him and sat up on the bed.  
"I'll go get the fold-out bed. You probably don't want to be in the same bed with me after seeing that. " Marie said as she left the room to go get the cot from Lee's room. She set it up next to her bed and put some covers on it. The cot had a built-in pillow on it so she didn't think to get a real one from the living room.  
"Well, I'm going to bed. Good night." Marie said and got into her bed.  
"Night..." Double D mumbled and went to bed too. [I swear, Double D, you are the biggest cockblock.] Marie thought and quietly sighed. [I was starting to get into it too. I know it's wrong to think about _that_ right after I had to being him back with CPR, but damn it, I've got needs.] She milled over what's happened and its possible consequences later on for a few more minutes, then thoughts of her encounter with the girl before the interruption crept into her mind. [Ah, damn it. I can't fall asleep while I'm feeling so hot. I guess if I'm quiet, no harm no foul.] She thought as she starting feeling herself to thoughts of the girl. She was quiet at first, but slowly lost connection to the real world as she went deeper into the memory; she didn't make it very far, however, because she was brought back to Earth by Double D climbing into her bed.

"I can't fall asleep on the cot." Double D mumbled sleepily; his mind wanted to go to sleep, but his body just wouldn't accept the rough built-in pillow of the cot. [He was awake that whole time?!] Marie momentarily froze with terror. [Screw it. I'm not going to let him stop me again.] She went back to the memory she was pulled from. She remained more in-touch with the real world this time; at least until the end of the trip down memory lane. She felt Double D put his arm around her.

"Please don't cry, Marie. Everything is going to be *yawn* fine." Double D mumbled in an even sleepier tone. [I probably made things worse, but I really don't care at this point. If he is so sensitive, he should have knocked.] She thought to herself and fell asleep.

Next day in class, they had a group project again; she got Double D as a partner, and had an unusual happy feeling. Double D looked kind of happy too, so she decided it was best not to talk about what happened. The last time she had Double D for a partner it was awkward, silent, and he just speed-wrote all of the answers himself and turned it in. The class went by in what seemed like just a few minutes; she almost didn't want to leave because she knew her other classes were all with random people.

After school, she went to the parking lot to find Double D's car; she waited for half an hour but he never showed up. She was sure that it was his car because she was in it just the other day. After waiting another ten minutes, she gave up and left. When she left the area of the parking lot, she heard a car engine turn on and roar to life as it moved away; Marie turned around to see that it was Double D's car, and his face was almost on the steering wheel. The sight of him hauling ass out of the parking lot just seconds after she waited for him for 40 minutes pierced her like an icy dagger. She turned and ran home, sadness flooded her mind.

Marie cried into her pillow until the initial pain of the sight went away. She picked up the phone and called Double D when she more or less composed herself.

"Anotu-" Double D began but was cut off.

"You're an asshole! I waited for you for 40 minutes and you were hiding the whole time? I hate you!" she shouted into the phone and hung up. She plugged in her iPod, put it on shuffle, and went back to her bed.

"Oh, dear. Marie sounds very upset. I feel bad, but what else was I to do? There was only two times that someone was has ever waited for me after school. And neither of them ended well." Double D was worried about what his escape from Marie's grasp did to her.

"I better go check on her to make sure she doesn't do anything we will both regret." He decided and headed for the door.

"Wait, both? Oh, you. I think you secretly like her." He giggled to himself.

He walked up to the door of Marie's house and was about to knock on the door when he heard music coming through the door. He put his ear to the door to make sure it wasn't coming from somewhere else, and was almost able to pick out distinct notes. This only lasted about eight seconds until it was interrupted by Slayer's 7-ton fist knocking Double D off the porch and onto the ground. Marie's iPod had picked "Threshold" as the next song it would play, almost as if to ward off any unwanted visitors. Double D heard some of the lyrics and decided it was best to just go home and wait to see her in class the next day. He started to walk away when the music stopped and he heard Marie's voice.

"What do you want?" Marie sounded like she had been crying.

"It makes me sad to know that you have been crying. I'm sorry about what happened earlier. But people awaiting my arrival at a certain place has never ended well for me. When I saw you standing next to my car, I got scared and remembered middle school." Double D explained the reason for the cloak and dagger half an hour ago.

"w-would you care for some company? I know I'm probably the wrong company at the moment given the circumstances, but I would think it would be better than sitting alone." Double D offered nervously.

"You're not afraid to come in?" Marie made a verbal jab at Double D.

"Since you have the home field advantage, you are more likely to try something, but I trust you." Double D informed her.

They sat down on the couch, but Double D still looked uncomfortable.

"What's wrong? You look like you don't want to be here" Marie asked him.

"As I'm sitting here, all I can think of is that night when you called me while intoxicated. I just see a loop of me laying on this couch, and your shirt falling on me like a palette of bricks. I know that said shirt is made of cotton and doesn't weigh more than a few ounces, but at the time I felt like I was going to die from a combination of excessive fever and asphyxiation." Double D told her what was on his mind.

"Keep your shirt on, I'm not going to lose mine this time" she teased.

"There are still plenty of things you can do without disrobing." Double D didn't sound like he wanted to joke about the subject.

"If you say 'disrobing' one more time…" Marie warned.

"You might not have gotten naked, but you still were less dressed than-… MMMPH!" Double D started to explain but was interrupted by Marie locking lips with him. Double D's arms were flailing about like a ragdoll being shaken by a dog. After what felt like several hours (which in reality was not more than a minute) Marie sat back up and waited for Double D's response.

"You were saying?" she teased him. Double D was still gasping for air as if he'd been forcibly held underwater; his whole body was shaking.

"Uh… I….I want to run…but I am entirely too weak to even move…" Double D admitted weakly.

"I think that sock on your head is messing with your brain. Or you must really hate me and you're just trying to be nice." Marie grumbled.

"Fine. You want to leave, go ahead. I'm sorry I thought of you as a friend." Marie added. She dragged him to the porch, and then forced the door closed. It was about half an hour before Double D finally regained control of his muscles. He got up and started to walk away when he heard lyrics that sank into him like a volley of arrows.

"Just do what you do, what you do, what you did to me. Now I'm stuck in between a rock and nowhere, with nothing, with no one."

"Just do what you do, what you do, what you've done to me. Draw the chalk line around the scene; it's over, now it's all over." Double D involuntarily mumbled along.

"Oh Mudvayne, thou art a cruel bitch." Double D said with a cringe. This was the same song that came up first on his iPod when his first girlfriend left him.

"Oh. Language. Mudvayne never did bring out my best qualities. But like Marie said, we're in high school now. Things are different" Double D had never used cuss words until today.  
[I have to talk to her again. I can relate to this song a little too well] Double D thought as he tried the door; to his surprise, it was unlocked. He went inside and quietly closed the door behind him. He went to Marie's room, but before he got to the door, he was met by her voice.  
"You know that's breaking and entering, right?" Marie was standing in the doorframe to her room.  
" Yes. But I really don't care. I heard the song you had playing and I knew I had to talk to you again. My iPod picked the same song when my girlfriend left me." Double D gave reason to his intrusion.  
"Whoa wait a minute. You actually listen to Mudvayne? AND you had a girlfriend?" Marie sounded shocked.  
"How did you not drive her away with your excessive fear of being touched? Or is that just me?" Marie asked.

"You're really just a bit too intense for me. With her, I was the frog in her pot of water. By the time it got to boiling, it was inescapable " Double D recalled his ex; a memory he didn't feel like reliving.  
"I can show you intense if you're so intent on labeling me as such." Marie offered in a slightly threatening tone.  
" no, that's quite alright. I'm already sweating bullets just sitting close to you on the couch." Double D knew his limits and declined her offer. Or was it a threat? Either way, it made him nervous.  
"Yeah. Fully automatic .50 caliber bullets at that. " Marie said with a smirk.  
"I... I'm going to get a drink." Double D walked to the kitchen and poured himself a glass of water. As he walked back to Marie's room, it was unusually quiet. He rounded the corner of the doorframe and saw Marie standing near the closet facing him. This tranquility was very short-lived, however, and he was about to get a surprise he wouldn't soon forget. About a split second after he saw her, he heard the sound of multiple clasps opening in rapid succession, followed by the front half of Marie's shirt falling to the floor. As soon as it made contact, music exploded from the computer speakers. The sudden flashback to "drunk Friday" combined with the ambush "Happy?" by Mudvayne was too much for Double D; he felt his body tighten and then he blacked out. She carried him to her bed, and then walked off to take care of some chores around the house. A few hours later, she came back to her room to check on Double D.

"Ugh, what happened? Where am I?" Double D mumbled.

"You're still in my room. Looks like you couldn't handle 'intense' " Marie teased him.

"You _planned_ that? I… *sigh*…. Ok. You win. I won't call you intense anymore. " Double D admitted defeat.

"What do you gain out of all of this?" Double D asked.

"Nothing. I just think it's cute how excessively shy you are around me." Marie gave him a flirty smile.

"You haven't changed much have you?" Double D sighed.

"Yeah I have. When I used to give you flirty looks in middle school, it was because I knew it got you to leave me alone. Now, I give you flirty looks because I actually like you." Marie explained.

"I…" Double D began but was at a loss for words; he blushed slightly, and that said everything that Double D's words never could.

"I already know. We would never have gotten this far if you didn't like me." Marie was one step ahead of Double D, which is not hard to do; considering how shy and almost clumsy he gets around her.

"H-how long have you known?" Double D asked her, to see how obvious he unintentionally was.

"Honestly, I knew you had a different opinion of me when you offered me a ride home from the art store." Marie told him.

"Then my first suspicion that you actually liked me was when you came over that Friday. I've only been drunk one other time before that, but no one came to keep me company and make sure I was safe." She added. Double D blushed at just how obvious he turned out to be.

"I should get home… my parents are probably starting to wonder where I am." Double D said as he got up. She heard his footsteps fading as he walked towards the door, then silence after he opened and closed it. [So the cat is out of the bag… you like Double D…] she thought to herself and smiled. [Then again, it's kind of hard not to like someone who comes over to keep you safe when you're drunk, and still talks to you after you drunk-pounce on them. And walks into your house without you calling them.] She thought about the time she's spent with Double D so far. Despite the emotional whirlwind, the past week or so has been better than the last 3 years she's had. [You know what? I'm going to clean up the house, and then invite him over. So he can be at my house at least once under good circumstances and with me sober.] She thought and started cleaning up random stuff she has been slacking on. It took about an hour, but she finally got the house the way she wanted to. [This is the first time I actually cared about what a guy thought about me. Times really have changed] she thought as went to take a shower. The only thing left now was pick what to wear, and then actually call him. She was looking through her closet and saw her fancy V-neck that Lee stole from some department store for her; it still had the tag on it because Marie didn't have an interest in wearing it at the time.

"Oh, Marie, you cheeky devil." She giggled to herself as she put it on. Everything was ready, so she went to call him.

"A-" Double D barely drew breath to speak when Marie interrupted him.

"Hey, you doing anything tonight?" she asked him.

"Uh...n-not really. Why do you ask?" Double D sounded confused.

"Can you come over? It gets lonely and boring here with my sisters off to college." She explained her curiosity in his plans.

"I… I guess. My parents are out of town until tomorrow anyway, so I don't have to worry about making them worry." Double D accepted with slight hesitation; he liked seeing her but he wasn't sure what awaited him in her house _this time_.


	4. Chapter 4

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

"Worry about worrying them? Did you really just say that? You need to loosen up and quit worrying so much" Marie teased him.

"I'll be over in a few minutes." Double D tried not to say anything about her comment. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.

"You got here kind of fast" Marie looked him over; he didn't get as dressed up, but she really didn't care.

"Well, I live close, so there is no reason for me to take a long time to get here." Double D shrugged.

"I remember you bought a sketch pad. Do you mind if I look at some of your drawings?" he asked, as the sketch pad he bought for her randomly floated across his mind.

"Oh, it's kind of dark. I don't think you'll like it." Marie tried to discourage him; she really only had one sketch book that was full, and that was full of drawings of memories that she knew he wasn't ready to re-live yet.

"I survived keeping you safe during your illegal drinking, and I survived your ambush earlier today. I think I'll be fine seeing a few post-apocalypse cites." Double D didn't sound like himself at all.

"Um… you feeling alright, Double D? You don't sound like your usual self." Marie asked him; he usually didn't talk about the destruction of cities in a nonchalant tone, especially without stuttering.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I actually follow the alcohol rules." Double D teased her. They went up to her room and sat on her bed as she pulled out her sketchbook from the dresser. She put her iPod on shuffle so there wouldn't be any awkward silence; and if there was, they wouldn't notice on account of the music playing. Double D looked through the first couple pages and seemed to really get into them.

"These are pretty good. And they aren't even that dark." Double D looked up at Marie and smiled. [Oh, just go a few more pages, and you will see what I'm talking about.] She thought to herself. He came to a picture of a highway mile marker with "0" on it, and a woman standing behind said mile marker. He stared at it for a few seconds but couldn't make sense of it. As he turned the page and his eyes focused on the next drawing, the drop of "Icarus Lives" startled him in combination with what the drawing was of; he jumped into Marie's lap from the jolt the picture and the timing of the music gave him. When he realized what happened, however, he was equally quick to jump off.

"S-sorry…" Double D apologized and blushed slightly.

"No, you're fine." she said with a smile, but she was also blushing. [He just jumped into my lap. Before today, he would start sweating even if I just sat close to him. Don't even get me started on me actually touching him. And now he just jumped up on me like its nothing. I kinda liked it.] She thought about what just happened.  
"You know, you could have stayed, and it wouldn't have bothered me." Marie teased him. Double D offered some stuttering noises, but nothing coherent. He got to a highly detailed picture of Marie and him. She was topless and had her shirt wrapped around Double D's head. He had his arms up and looked like he was running somewhere. There was a word bubble coming from him that said "I'm covered in bees!"  
He looked up at Marie and his eyes involuntarily focused on her V-neck. He zoned out for a few seconds but Marie brought him back.  
"Checking the art for honesty?" She joked.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to-..." Double D trailed off.  
" I don't blame you for looking. You've already seen past this shell multiple times." Marie reminded him in a borderline seductive tone.  
Double D stuttered, but failed to produce coherent speech again. Marie leaned in to kiss him; he surprisingly didn't pull away. The moment her tongue entered his mouth, she recognized the taste of liquor.  
"Edd Anotucci. You have been drinking." Marie used her best serious tone. Double D blushed heavily and turned away.  
"I...I'm sorry. I just didn't want to be a shy and awkward mess when I came over. But I guess that didn't work." Double D admitted.  
" But I like it when you're shy. You're so cute when you're shy." Marie told him.  
" Not that I don't think you're cute when you aren't being shy" she added with a flirty smile. [Did I just say that out loud? I think I did. But I really don't care. And I don't think he minds either. I'm having the best time of my life in the last three years] she thought to herself as she smiled at Double D.  
"Why did you try to hide it at first? You already knew I drank before" she asked him.  
"I just wanted you to think I could be loose and sociable on my own." Double D admitted.  
"Because that is going to work out totally great when you either can't find any liquor or it wears off before you leave my house." Marie joked.  
"Oh, I wasn't planning to stay that long." Double D explained.  
"Why not?" Marie's smile quickly inverted.  
"Oh, Marie, you know I don't like seeing you sad." Double D gently pushed up the corners of Marie's mouth with his fingers.  
"I'll stay as long as you want me to." He added.  
"Would you spend the night?" She asked him just to test if he meant what he said.  
"Uh... well... I... I..." Double D stuttered, slightly in shock of her question.  
"You shouldn't say stuff you don't mean" Marie said in a sad tone.  
"Uh... can... can I go get a glass of water?" He asked.  
" Don't be silly. You're my guest. I'll go bring you one." Marie smiled and went to the kitchen. She poured him a glass of water, and added just a bit of liquor.  
She went back into her room and handed him the glass.

"You really didn't have to..." Double D thanked her timidly.  
" Nonsense. I didn't mind" she assured him. He drank the whole glass and set it on the table. Now that he was out of the desert, he continued to look through Marie's Sketchbook. After a few variations on a disoriented and blindfolded Double D, he got to the picture of him doing the "Scream" face, with Marie in the background. He looked up at Marie and zoned out for a few seconds; Marie had to bring him back to Earth again.  
"I promise I didn't draw myself with bigger boobs. I'm happy with my body." Marie said with a flirty smile.  
"Uh... I... I'm sorry... I promise I'm not intentionally staring..." Double D blushed as he apologized. There was a brief silence, and he continued his drunken artistic journey. After a few random unrelated pictures, he came to a picture of the inside of a Greek mausoleum. Double D was in a frightened stance with his hands shielding his face. He was painted a grayish stone color. In front of him was the top half of a shirtless Marie with the bottom half of Medusa.  
"Hey, I resent that. I'm not _that_ bad when it comes to..." Double D began to protest but trailed off.  
"When it comes to what?" Marie teasingly asked him; she knew exactly what he was talking about. And he was that bad, he just didn't want to admit it. Double D zoned out again.  
"Would it be easier for you to compare me to the artwork if I took my shirt off?" Marie asked with a smirk.  
Double D didn't answer; possibly because his trance was deeper than the previous two.  
"If you keep staring, I will take my shirt off." She teased him. Still no response.  
"Ok, here it goes" she gave him one last flirty warning. She waited a few minutes and then took her shirt off.  
"You should have an easier time comparing reality to sketches now." she said with a smirk. Double D remained a statue. [So you want to play hardball, eh? That's just my game] she thought as she turned towards him and put her chest in his face. A few seconds went by, and Double D sprang to life.  
" Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bump into to you!" Double D yelped.  
" Why aren't you wearing a shirt? Oh jeez I hope I didn't walk in on you! I'm so sorry! He added when he noticed Marie wasn't wearing the V-neck she had on earlier.  
"Calm down, Double D. You're fine. You didn't bump into me. And even if you did, it wouldn't be unwelcome. And you didn't walk in on me." She tried to calm the startled animal that was Double D.  
"Even though I wouldn't mind that either" she added with a flirty smile.

"I...uh..." Double D mumbled and blacked out; he remained sitting up, which was an amusing feat of balance. She lightly poked his shoulder and he fell off of her bed onto the floor. She waited for him to get up, but after half an hour of no movement, she decided he was down for the count.  
"Sleep tight, sweet prince" she whispered into his ear. She took off his shirt and pants so they wouldn't get wrinkled from him sleeping in them. She got him into her bed and covered him with a blanket. [I'll sleep on the couch. If I sleep in the same bed this early his head will explode.] She thought as she went into the living room. She lay down on the couch, and was asleep in a few minutes.


	5. Chapter 5

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by Canada-based a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

She woke up, having a feeling something was off, and looked at the clock. [Oh, shit we still have school today!] She thought as she bolted to her room to wake up Double D.  
"Double D, get up we got to go to school! Hurry I want you dressed 10 minutes ago!" She shouted and disappeared as quickly as she came in. Being woken up by an alarmed and nearly naked Marie gave him an unexpected jolt of energy. He grabbed some random stuff out of the closet (forgetting he was not at home) and put them on. He had gotten ready faster today than any other day in his life. He flew out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, and caught Marie still getting dressed.  
"Oh! Sorry! Didn't know you were still getting dressed!" Double D yelped. By the time he finished the sentence, however, Marie was dressed. They both bolted to Double D's house and got in the car. Marie got in the driver's seat and Double D didn't even notice. They got to school in record time, but the parking lot was unusually empty.  
"What the... where is everyone?" Marie was confused by the complete absence of people in the parking lot. They went to the front of the school and saw the billboard say "Thanksgiving break. No school".  
"Oh... I completely forgot." Marie felt slightly relieved that they didn't have school today.  
"Well, since we don't have school, I've got a few questions for you." Double D told her.  
"Why did I wake up undressed? And more importantly, what happened last night?" He asked.  
"Oh, I got you drunk and then did things to you that would make you blush so hard you would burn alive." Marie said in an innocent tone, which scared Double D even more than if she had used her usual flirty one. His face felt like it was on fire, so Marie's promise didn't feel too far off.  
"What? Marie got your tongue?" Marie teased. Double D just stared at her.  
"Don't worry; I got a lot more than your tongue last night." Marie added seductively. This comment kicked the furnace into full steam. Double D looked like a hardcore Sooner fan and was starting to fog up the windows with his blushing.  
"Hey, we are fogging up the windows and we haven't even done anything yet" Marie said in a flirty tone. She rolled down the window and realized how cold it was outside. She felt the cold within a few seconds; Double D seemed to be completely un fazed. She took his hand and ran it up her thigh to her hip. No resistance, no reaction. [He's frozen solid, while being hot as a stove.]. She talked to him a bit more, but got no response. She decided to take a quick walk outside; she walked to the school building but then quickly ran back because it was too cold to stay outside for longer than a few seconds, dressed as she was currently.  
She got into the car and had an idea. [This should cool you off.] She took his hand and slid it up her shirt. His almost burning hand left a trail of warmth as it traveled up her body.  
"Marie, can you close the- Oh my God, Sorry!" Double D began to ask her to close the window but noticed his hand was in her shirt.  
" You've already gotten into my pants, so you can do whatever you want with me." Marie smiled seductively.  
"Wh...What are you talking about?" Double D sounded confused.  
"Look at what you're wearing." Marie pointed at his shirt. Double D looked down and saw that he was wearing Marie's jeans, and her Metallica hoodie.  
"You're also wearing my Ride the Lightning hoodie. You can right my lightning anytime." she added coquettishly.  
"What? How did..." Double D started to talk but trailed off.  
"You came over drunk, and passed out on my bed. I took your shirt and pants off so they wouldn't get wrinkled. In the rush of the morning, you probably forgot you weren't at home so you just grabbed the first thing you could get your hands on out of the closet." Marie recounted the chain of events that led to Double D wearing her pants.  
"At least I was the second thing you got your hands on." She teased as she winked at him.  
"Uh... s-so now what?" Double D asked to get a glimpse of what he was in for, since school was out and they were already together.  
"Oh I was thinking about getting you drunk and taking advantage of you again. I had fun last night so I thought I would do it again." Marie teased. Double D's fading blush quickly came back.  
"I don't understand how you can be wearing my clothes and still blush from me teasing you. Marie's smile faded. [If you're going to blush while wearing my pants, I'll make sure you cook alive in them.]  
"You know, I wore those pants a few days ago. Without any underwear. So you are in vicarious intimate contact with me right now." She spoke a little of Double D's language. This was the proverbial straw that broke that camel's back. Double D had now actually started sweating.

"Since you are wearing my clothes, you are mine. I can get into your pants and it won't be considered trespassing since they are mine anyway." Marie leaned in close and whispered into his ear. She could feel heat radiating off of him and his heart beat like a war drum in his chest. She slid her hand down his chest and touched the button of his jeans; Double D threw open the passenger door and, as if on cue, a gust of especially cold air rushed into the car. Double D went down a shade of red right before Marie shut the door.

"It's 32 degrees outside, are you crazy?" Marie exclaimed.

"I was hot, so I opened the door to cool off." Double D shrugged.

"Oh you're hot alright, but not in a way that you can cool off by opening a door." Marie said as she winked at him.

"Anyway, since we don't have school, I'm going home. And you're coming with me. This cold weather is killing my libido." Marie informed him.

When they got home, she was walking up to the door when she noticed Double D was still in the car.

"Did you not hear me? I said you're going home with me. You're wearing my pants so you're mine. And I know you're not crazy enough to take them off in this weather." Marie called back to him.

"You planned all of this, didn't you? I personally think you knew full well that we didn't have school today. This was all just a meticulously thought-out plan to claim ownership of me." Double D seemed irritated.

"Is that really such a crime? Now come on. I don't want you freezing to death in your own car." She motioned him to come inside, but he didn't move.

"Don't make me come over there. I _will_ carry you into the house if I have to." Marie threatened.

"I'll scream and the neighbors will call the police." Double D warned.

"Go ahead and scream. The only other person that lives in this trailer park is Old man Jacob. And he can't hear a 30.06 firing even if he's the one holding it." Marie dismissed his warning. There was a brief silence, but Double D still didn't move.

"Alright, I'm going to count to 5, and then I'm coming over there." Marie warned.

"1…" she began.

"2…"

"3…" still no movement.

"4…"

"5! Alright, be ready to kick and scream." Marie gave one final warning.

"AUGH! No! This is kidnapping! Endangerment of a minor! Child abuse! Help! Anybody!" Double D frantically shouted, but was only answered by the wind; Marie was right. If he had been shouting like this in the cul-de-sac, he would be surrounded by half of the neighborhood by now. He grabbed on to the steering wheel with one hand, and braced himself against the doorframe with the other. Marie tried to pry his fingers from the steering wheel, but he had quite a solid grip. [For a scrawny, awkward kid like him, he's got some grip] she thought. [Oh, you're beyond evil. But it's just crazy enough to work.] She smiled as she had an idea to get him out of the car. She slid her hand down his pants and put it on his thigh. A split second later, Double D flew out of the car as if he was shot out of a cannon; he even managed to pull Marie with him. He lost his footing and fell on the ground, with Marie falling on top of him. She got up, and dragged him by the arms to the porch.

"I would advise you to walk up the stairs yourself. Getting dragged up the stairs is not going to be pleasant, and I'd rather not do that to you." Marie suggested. Double D was still being stubborn and didn't move.

"Alright, have it your way, then." Marie sighed and began to drag him up the stairs. She got up to the door and had to let go to unlock the door; in that time, Double D managed to get up and take a couple steps away from the porch. She ran after Double D but tripped over his backpack so she fell on him and pinned him to the hood of the car.

"You're under arrest for truancy. Ha ha." Marie joked. She dragged him back to the house and into the living room. [Don't I have some socks in my pocket that I was going to put on at school? Those would come in handy right about now] she thought as she felt her hoodie pocket for socks.

"Ha!" she chirped and proceeded to tie Double D's hands together with the first sock she pulled out. She reached into her other pocket and pulled out the second sock; meanwhile, Double D was vainly fumbling with the door handle. She dragged him back to the couch and tied his feet together with the second sock.

"You're insane! Psychotic! Untie me right now!" Double D shouted.

"You can stop shouting now. No one is going to hear you from inside a mobile home that's in the middle of a field. And you're also kind of hurting my ears." Marie told him of the futility of his screams.

"Well I didn't enjoy being tackled and dragged up the stairs, so I guess we're even!" Double D continued shouting.

"When I get out of these bonds, I'll- mmmmphh!" Double D's threat was interrupted by Marie's lips locking with his. His hands only flailed for a few seconds and then slowly came to rest on the couch and the floor.

"Before today, you were fine with coming over and just being with me. What happened today that you're fighting as if for your own life?" Marie asked him calmly.

"Because I'm being held against my will." Double D grumbled. Marie untied him and turned away.

"Then go. I won't stop you." Marie sounded sad; Double D couldn't see it, but a tear was slowly making its way down her cheek. She waited a few minutes but didn't hear any movement.

"Well? You said you didn't want to be here. So go." She grumbled.

"I want to stay with you. I think I was only fighting when I didn't have any choice. But now that I do, I want to stay." Double D tried to explain his behavior.

"It makes me happy that you chose to stay here after I untied you." Marie said as she smiled; Double D could tell he made her feel better.

"Well, I'm going to go change into something that wasn't thrown on in 3 seconds. I'll be back in a bit. Don't sneak out" Marie teased.

"Don't worry; I have no intention of stealing your clothes. One, because it's wrong, and two, because they are highly distinguishable from my own and I don't want to face the resulting inquisition from my parents." Double D assured her. Marie walked off to her room to change. [Now is my chance] Double D thought after a few minutes passed by. He quietly walked to Marie's room, forgetting she went in there to change, to retrieve his own clothes and go home. He pushed open the door and froze as his eyes focused on a barely dressed and slightly surprised Marie.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to walk in like this!" Double D apologized nervously as he blushed.

"I was actually hoping you did it on purpose and took me up on my offer of walking in on me." Marie reminded him of what she said the other night.

"So what are you doing here, if not seeking a show?" Marie asked him teasingly.

"I… *sigh*…I'm sorry… I came to get my clothes… I was hoping I could change and sneak out while you were changing." Double D admitted.

"After you told me you chose to stay here? Are you _trying _to hurt me or do you just lack social skills?" Marie was deeply hurt that he would do something like this; he was so nice at first and then he does this? Marie was hoping she would wake up in her bed, and find that none of this ever happened.

"I'm sorry… my heart says stay, but my shell says go. I've lost all of my confidence after the break-up with my girlfriend. She helped me build it, and almost pulled me out of my shell, but then saw some guy with big muscles and a Charger and I never saw her again." Double D gave more detail about his first break-up.

"That's terrible. I'm sorry. Well don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." Marie assured him.

"That's what she said too." Double D sighed.

"Well I'm not her. She obviously failed at what she was trying to do. I'm going to finish what she started." Marie didn't appreciate being compared to his ex, but she let it slide this time.

"I'll break you out of your shell yet. You will be jamming to Metallica and grabbing my boobs in public before you know it." Marie teased him.

"Well, she never said that. So maybe this time _is _different." Double D mumbled.

"If you say another word about her…" Marie warned; she was getting tired of hearing about his ex who obviously didn't deserve him.

"I'm sorry. She was just-" Double D began but was interrupted by something soft but slightly firm hitting his face. He looked up to see what it was and saw that Marie was no longer wearing a bra. He felt blood rush to his face and his heart start beating like a war drum in his chest and ears.

"What did I just say? I warned you." Marie pointed a finger at him. Double D stood statue still, turning a deeper shade of red every passing second. [I need to get those clothes in the washer. And now is the best chance I have of getting them off of him.] She thought as she went to take off his hoodie. She took his pants and hoodie into the laundry room, along with some other stuff she needed to wash; she took his clothes that he came in originally as well, as insurance. She came back into her room and put her bra back on. She filled two Ziploc bags with ice cubes and put them on Double D's shoulders. A few minutes later he came back to Earth and shook off the ice bags.

"You're going too fast. She-" Double D stopped himself as soon as he saw Marie reach behind her again.

"That's what I thought" Marie said in a threatening tone.

"Then again, going slow may have been one of the reasons for my downfall." Double D thought back to his first relationship.

"You have 5 seconds to stop thinking about her. She obviously didn't deserve you if she left you for some rando with a sports car." Marie announced.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But still…. She was my first…" Double D mumbled.

"3…" Marie gave him the evil eye.

"wha- this is-" Double D stuttered.

"2…"

"Just let me-" Double D began but was interrupted by Marie's timekeeping.

"1…"

Double D sighed.

"The next thought you have about her will bring swift consequences." Marie warned.

"Do your worst." Double D glared in a burst of defiance. Marie took his hand and slid it into her underwear; Double D promptly blacked out. ['Do your worst' he says. You can't even handle my 'potentially questionable'] she thought as she lifted him onto her bed. [He didn't even notice that he was undressed. I'm really outdoing myself today.] She thought to herself and smiled. [Speaking of doing myself…] she giggled at her wording. She picked up the ice bags and put them on Double D's chest; she didn't feel like waiting for four hours or more for him to wake up.

"Marie, I'm cold. Can I at least have my shirt back?" Double D asked when he came to.

"I never got to finish changing. So why do you think _you_ get a shirt?" Marie teased.

"You can use my body to warm up, but that's all you get" she added seductively. She lay down on the bed and shimmied up next to him. She turned him on his side and then faced away from him so that her back was touching his chest. It was really cold from having an ice bag sitting on it, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She clenched her fist and forced the thought of a cold back from her mind. She only had to focus like this for a few seconds because Double D's shyness warmed him up pretty quickly once he realized what was going on. "For the record, hostages usually don't get boobs on demand. They don't get fed until it is critical to keep them alive, and they usually are held in one place at gunpoint. You, however, are free to move anywhere within the house." Marie told him about some of the conditions the real hostages have to suffer through.

"Also, the captors usually don't have feelings for their hostages." Marie added in a flirty tone.  
"So does this mean I've got Stockholm Syndrome?" Double D gave a vague hint at his feelings.  
"No, I think you have to develop feelings during captivity. You had them a while before you were actually captured." Marie giggled at his admission; she knew he had feelings for her even before he told her the first time.  
"Well, it's getting kind of late, so we should go to bed. It may be Thanksgiving break, but that doesn't mean we should sleep all day tomorrow." Marie suggested.  
"I'm not going to make you sleep in my bed. Because I know just lying here right now is making you nervous enough. I'll trust you to sleep on the couch." Marie added.  
"Good night" Double D said as he left.  
"Good night" Marie turned off the light in her room. Double D went to the couch and lay down. After getting lost in a stream of random thought for a while, he realized something.  
[Hey...she's asleep... if I leave now, she will never know. I'll come back in the morning, but I just don't think I'll be able to fall asleep here.] He thought as he went to the laundry room.  
[Hey, my clothes are here too. She's trying hard to keep me here] he got dressed and quietly approached the door; he opened the dead bolt and turned the doorknob without them squeaking even once. He pulled the door open and a loud siren went off. Before he could react in any way, he was tackled by Marie; the force of her pounce pushed him against the door, closing it and pinning him against it.  
"This is what I get for trusting you? I'm really starting to doubt that all of these attempts are you shell instincts." Marie grumbled in frustration.  
"Ok. I will admit some of it is my mind dwelling on our history. And your history as one of the Kanker sisters." Double D admitted.  
"Well, I'm sorry. I can't change who I was in the past. Really, I can't change who I am now, either, but that is beside the point. You will just have to get over it." Marie told him to man up.  
"Now come on, let's go to bed. I was already asleep when you woke me up with the alarm." Marie started to walk towards the bedroom. Double D locked the door and followed. Marie got a fold-out bed from May's room and took it to her room.  
"You can sleep here. I obviously can't trust you to sleep completely alone, but this way you can still get some sleep." Marie said as she got back into her bed.  
"Well? I hope you're not planning to sleep in your clothes. I wouldn't want them to get wrinkled and people think we were doing something we shouldn't be." Marie said with a smirk.

"Even if we are..." Marie added. Double D sighed as he got undressed and got into his bed. He fell asleep surprisingly fast, but didn't sleep for long. [That window doesn't have a sensor on it... God has a sense of humor...] Double D thought as he got dressed. He was fumbling with the window lock when Marie woke up.  
"Just getting some fresh air right?" Marie whispered into his ear.  
"I'm sorry. I just don't like feeling like a hostage" Double D told her.  
"That's twice in one night. Hell, twice in under an hour. Am I really that intimidating?" Marie asked him.  
"Well, yes. Sometimes. "Double D admitted.  
"You're sleeping in my bed this time. So I can keep an eye, among other things, on you. Don't wake me a third time. It won't end well for you." Marie warned. Double D sighed and stood there for a few minutes. After Marie threw a sock at him, he got undressed and got into her bed; he tried to get on the edge opposite of Marie, and she kept her distance, but very briefly. Double D felt her body nestle against his, followed by her arm lying on his side.  
"Good night, Houdini." Marie teased.  
"Night..." Double D mumbled. [I'm not even going to try this. As much as part of me wants to, I can't. I will be discovered before I even get up.] Shortly this mental argument, he fell asleep.  
He woke up facing Marie, who was still asleep.  
[I've got more of a chance now than I did yesterday, but I can't leave now. She looks so peaceful.] As soon as he finished the sentence, Marie woke up.  
"Well good morning to you too." Marie gave him a flirty smile.  
"You seem to be in a better mood than usual" Double D commented.  
"I could say the same for you. "She teased.  
"Uh... what do you mean?" Double D asked in a confused voice.  
"Something warm and dense is digging into my leg, and I know it's not your knee." Marie hinted seductively. Double D powered through fifty shades of red.  
"I...I can't apologize enough. I have never been so embarrassed in my life." Double D mumbled in almost a whisper.  
"You're fine. At least I now know for sure you're attracted to me." Marie said as she smiled at him.  
"I-its actually normal for that to happen in the morning." Double D blurted out, not really sure why.  
"You really know how to ruin the mood, you know that?" Marie grumbled.  
"I'm sorry. But I really am attracted to you. Even if I don't show it." Double D tried to cheer her up.  
"Oh, you will show it before the break is over." Marie said in a tone that Double D wasn't sure if it was meant to be threatening or seductive.

"You know, you say you're embarrassed, but you haven't moved away yet. Sounds like you're having trouble deciding." Marie pointed out teasingly. Double D gave a small yip and moved away, but Marie put her hand on his lower back and pulled him towards her. This gave Double D another dozen shades, turning him slightly purple.  
" You're blushing so hard, you are actually turning purple. You are breathing, right?" Marie asked him, but received no answer. She reached down to feel what's was digging I to her leg and instantly heard what sounded like a semi releasing air from pneumatic brakes.  
"Holding your breath will only make you more uncomfortable. Partially because I will find ways to make you breathe." She whispered. Double D was breathing too hard to answer.  
"Marie! I-" Double D began when he caught his breath but was cut short by Marie.  
" oh, shut up, you know you liked it." Marie dismissed his protest teasingly. She got up, and got dressed and was walking to the door when Double D asked her about his clothes.  
" can I at least have my clothes? I won't try to leave. It's day time, and I know you are fully capable of catching me and bringing me back." Double asked her.  
"After betraying me twice in an hour last night? You're lucky I'm even letting you have boxers on. You really cut me deep yesterday." Marie scoffed at his request.  
"Ok..." Double D accepted his fate dejectedly.  
"I'll get undressed too, so you don't feel uncomfortable being the only person not dressed." Marie teased.  
"Actually, I feel kind of uncomfortable even when I am dressed and you're not." Double D admitted.  
"Ha. More than kind of." Marie made a verbal jab.  
" I was trying to be nice. Why do you have to be like that?" Double D asked.  
" Because I like you, you idiot. For someone as smart as you, you sure are stupid at times." Marie said sharply and walked off to the kitchen; Double D could feel a bit of love amid the frustration of her tone.  
He gave a deep sigh and got out of bed to wash his face and get ready for breakfast.  
Marie had made omelettes, and she looked like she was about to go searching for Double D when he showed up in the kitchen.  
"I promise it's not laced with poison or sexual stimulants." Marie gave flashed him a flirty smile.  
"I'm the only stimulant you need" she leaned in and whispered into his ear. The rest of breakfast was awkwardly quiet; Double D was awkwardly quiet, Marie was never one for breakfast conversation to begin with, so this was normal for her.  
"I've got to take a shower. Can I go home to get some clothes to change into? I'll come right back." Double D asked.  
"Ha. How stupid do you think I am?" Marie scoffed at his question. She went into her room and came out a few seconds later.  
"You can change into these." She handed him what looked like a napkin from a family diner. Double D turned the same color as the "napkin".  
"Surely, you must be j-joking." Double D stuttered out.  
"I'm not laughing. And my name is Marie." She corrected him. [I'm not laughing now, but I might be later.] She thought as she imagined Double D in her underwear.  
"This is women's underwear, I-" Double D began to protest but was cut short by the owner of said underwear.  
" that's all you're getting. It's either that or you can continue wearing what you have now. You're lucky I don't follow you into the shower to make sure you don't try to escape through the drain." She teased.  
"The bathroom window does have a sensor on it, and it will sound the alarm if you try to disable it. So don't get any ideas." She added.  
"I guess I'll go take my shower now." Double D sighed and walked off to the bathroom. He shed his boxers and was stepping into the shower when he thought about something. [It may go off when I try to disable it, yes, but did she really arm the system when we are both home and its morning?] He walked to the window and unlocked it. [I'm not out of the woods yet. Or mobile home, in this case.] He pulled up on the window and the sound of the alarm pierced him like a knife. Marie burst into the room and pinned him to the window sill.  
"I knew you were going to try something. That's why I told you about the sensor. So you could save yourself some embarrassment." Marie explained why she told him about what security measures were in place. She could feel heat radiating off of Double D; this was his first time to be naked and pinned to a bathroom window by a girl who was almost equally naked.  
"I-I-I... wasn't trying to escape actually. I just didn't fully believe you actually set the alarm just for me taking a shower." Double D told her.  
"Don't lie. I know that if I didn't, you would have been long gone, and left me waiting for someone that wasn't there." Marie accused.  
"You don't trust me at all, do you?" Double D asked in a sad tone.  
"No shit, Sherlock. If I had betrayed you twice in an hour, and then 7 hours later, betrayed you again, would you trust me a fourth time?" Marie growled.  
"Yes, possibly..." Double D admitted. He was a sucker for a pretty face and he knew it. And Marie had a lot more than just a pretty face.

"I hope you do know that I would never betray you even once. Let alone 3 times in only 7 hours." Marie said as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Well, you did tell me my clothes were in the washer when they weren't…" Double D told her about his findings last night.

"Yeah, but that's because I wanted you stay longer. I wasn't trying to leave you." Marie explained.

"Now hurry up and take your shower. When I'm this close to you, you kind of smell. And I can't have that." Marie suggested.

"Because I plan to be this close a lot this weekend." She added in a flirty voice.

"But don't think I'm leaving the room. You already showed me you can't be trusted with windows." She said in a more serious tone. She closed the toilet bowl lid and sat on it; she was going to make sure he didn't try anything this time. Double D got into the shower and started the water; he was about to grab the shampoo when Marie made him blush in the already hot environment.

"Don't forget to clean your back-up heater." She teased. Double D knew what she was talking about, and it made him slightly uncomfortable; his first girlfriend never talked like this. In fact, she never really did anything. She kissed him once, and that was at her sister's bachelor party, where she had gotten drunk beforehand.

"Are you really going to make me wear those?" Double D asked when he was done with his shower. At first, his only reply was a towel being tossed over the shower curtain bar. He dried himself off, and then as if she was watching him, her hand peeked around the curtain holding his change of clothes.

"Another thing I will try to accomplish is make you take my words more seriously than you do currently." She told him after a few minutes passed by without him taking it.

"Come on, my arm is getting tired." Marie verbally prodded him as she wiggled her arm. Finally, she put the "napkin" on the edge of the tub; she got tired of holding it.

"We can sit here all day. Or you can put them on and we can get on with our day." Marie made it clear that he was not leaving the bathroom until he chose a course of action.

"Or you can come out naked. That's fine too" She joked. A few more minutes of silence passed by, and the shower curtain finally slid back as Double D stepped out.

"Wow, you almost look better wearing them than I do" Marie teased, causing Double D to blush more than he already was.

"Did they have to be this small?" Double D groaned.

"I'm wearing the biggest pair I have. They are semi-transparent though. So unless you want these, you're stuck with what I gave you." She told him.

"I'm not sure I believe you. Surely you have more of a choice than you're letting on." Double D sounded skeptical.

"I can show you my collection if you want. And what have I told you about calling me Shirley?" Marie offered. She took him into her room and opened her dresser drawer.

"I think I'm good with my current choice." Double D said weakly after he saw the bottom of the drawer littered with thongs.

"I told you. But since I'm so nice, and you didn't take _too _long in the shower, I will switch with you." Marie offered in a flirty voice; he saw her hand reach into the drawer and place something inside.

"Did you just…" Double D began even though he already knew the answer.

"Yep. So what do you say?" Marie asked him. Double D gave no answer. Marie stood there for a minute then took off the pair he was wearing and darted out of the room.

"Now that was uncalled for! I never agreed to anything! What am I supposed to wear now?!" Double D protested.

"I left mine in there. Whether you choose to put them on is your choice. Or perhaps a g-string tickles your fancy, among other things?" Marie joked. Double D grumbled and put on the pair Marie left in the drawer; it was better than walking around like he was Adam and Marie's house was the Garden of Eden. He walked out into the living room and was greeted by Marie's catcall.

"Ooh, look out ladies! Double D is here to play with_ your _double d's." Marie barely managed to say without bursting into laughter.

"Ok. Ha, ha. Look at Double D wearing women's underwear. Can I have my clothes back now? I think you've made your point." Double D grumbled.

"If I give you your clothes back, you will leave. And I can't have you walking out with my underwear. Those are my favorite. You're not getting your clothes back until the end of Spring Break." Marie said with a wink.

"Spring break?! That's four months from now! What am I supposed to do until then?!" Double D screeched.

"Oh, sorry, I meant Thanksgiving. Your choice of underwear is distracting me and I can't think straight." Marie teased.

"But what would you do if I _did _mean spring break?" Marie asked him.

"I... I don't even know…" Double D groaned. Marie went to put stuff up after breakfast as Double D went into her room to lie down; he's had more than enough excitement for the day.

"Are you feeling alright?" Marie asked him when she finished up in the kitchen and came into the bedroom.

"Well, I was taken by force and locked in a house with no escape, stripped of my clothing and forced to wear women's' underwear. I feel great." Double D grumbled sarcastically.

"You're making it sound like this is the worst day of your life. Other guys would only love to be in your shoes. Or underwear, in this case." Marie sighed.

"I don't mean to brag, but I think I'm above-average looking. So, you've got this above-average looking girl fawning over you in nothing but her bra and underwear, and you're grumbling like you work at Wal-Mart and they just took your only day off." Marie explained Double D's situation to him, in case he didn't realize it himself.

"That girl has also dragged me across a field and up several stairs, and then tied my hands and feet with socks." Double D reminded her of their first day of Thanksgiving break.

"Yeah, because that girl wants you to herself that bad." Marie decided to speak his language.

"Well… um... I… uh…" Double D was at a loss for words.

"You never finished looking through my sketchbook. I think it would calm you down. And relax your nerves. I know have been a bit hard to deal with at times." Marie suggested. She took both sketchbooks off the table and put them on the bed. The last picture of the first sketch book was a shirtless Marie shining in the sky like a sun; Double D was falling as melting wax holding feathers to his arms trailed behind him.

"That's about accurate." Double D sighed. He picked up the second sketchbook and flipped to the first page. Double D was wearing all black, sitting outside of a castle that was floating on a cloud. The second page had a winged Marie sitting on a snowy tower behind the Pearly Gates. Double D falling towards Earth, with the cloud castle above him. Marie catching Double D in her arms. Marie and Double D sitting in front of a massive palace fashioned out of a tree.

Double D with a blaze where his pupils would be. Double D slashing at Marie with a black scythe. Marie flying off to her snowy tower. Marie lying in a pool of blood with ghosts coming out of it.

"I thought I was supposed to be relaxing. This is just making me worry more. Your first sketchbook was not even close to this dark and graphic." Double D said in a worried tone. Drawings of burning buildings or of Marie as a shirtless angel were one thing, but nine pictures that are all connected? Double D felt like he uncovered something that was best lost in the mists of time.

"Um... I-is there something you want to tell me?" Double D asked nervously, fearing he might regret asking.

"Oh, this is when you told me I drunk dialed you and then forced myself on you. That was my 'most embarrassing' moment. And then the pictures are from a song that came up on my iPod when I ran inside." Marie explained. She found the song on her iPod and played it. It started out as just an acoustic melody, then the bass and drums came in but it didn't really get nearly as hard as some of the other music Double D has heard her play.

"She is the dark one...  
As a bird I watched her from my cold tower in the heavens  
and when she fell from the northplace, I flew down and embraced her  
I took her where the snow falls forever, she showed me the haunted woods  
We gathered together in the oaken palace, free from both death and life  
The fire blazed in her eyes one day and she tore the soul from my chest  
With a bleeding heart, I flew back to my cold tower  
to never escape and lie in a pool of death forever"

" 'She Painted Fire Across the Sky'. I couldn't believe how well this song fit me at the time." Marie sighed as the memory floated through her mind.

"Oh. I'm sorry… I didn't mean to bring it up again…" Double D felt bad for opening that can of worms.

"You can't hide the past forever..." Marie mumbled. There was a brief awkward silence, and then Double D turned the page. Marie saw Double D turning red as his eyes focused on the page. It was a highly detailed sketch of her on the couch, nude.  
"Yes, I drew my boobs a little bigger because I lying down in this picture. It's not like I gave myself implants." Marie admitted in a slightly irritated voice.  
"Aw, I like them the way they are" the words escaped Double D's lips without a stutter, nervous tone, or anything else that was usually present in his voice. Marie reveled in this development until she was pulled back to reality.  
"I'm sorry!" Double D yelped and clasped his hands over his mouth. [I guess it was too good to be true.] Marie thought, disappointed at how short-lived Double D's bravery was.

"You can stop being so proper around me. Since it came out of your mouth, it was in your mind somewhere. You should hear the stuff I don't say." Marie assured Double D his comment was welcome, contrary to his belief.

"Maybe you will draw me like this sometime?" She nudged him with her elbow.  
"Oh right. You freeze even at the sight of me shirtless." Marie teased.  
"I-I think I'll be over that by the time thanksgiving is over, at the rate I'm going." Double D predicted.  
"Oh, get a load of Mr. Optimism" Marie teased.  
"Ooh, actually that sounds pretty nice. I'd very much like to get a load of Mr. Optimism. All over my pessimist face" she added in a seductive voice.  
"Ooh. I... Feel... light-headed... Vision... Going dark..." Double D mumbled weakly.  
"Is there anything I can do?" Marie asked.  
"Yes. Relent your assault and please give me a glass of water. " Double D requested weakly. Marie got up and went to the kitchen to pour him a glass of water. When she got back, she found that Double D has fallen over onto the floor and didn't look like he moved.  
"Blacked out again? Some people just can't hold their dirty talk." Marie sighed as she pulled him up onto the bed. [He really needs to toughen up. If he can't handle seeing me without a shirt and making a couple dirty jokes, we are going to have a lot of problems. I understand he had a bad break-up, but if he's going to be like this forever, this is not going to work. I hope to God it does though. I really can't see myself with anyone else.] Marie could feel herself getting lost in thought.  
[Well... What if it doesn't work out? You can't just leave all the memories you have with him. If you think it would be hard to leave him now, just think about how it's going to be by the time you are able to make a decision on whether it can work or not. If he isn't the one for us, it's over. You will be stuck here working some bullshit job and living alone. You will become the female Old Man Jacob. You will be Old Lady Marie. But since you wouldn't be able to handle an empty house, you will probably buy pets. Oh, shit. You will be the crazy cat lady.] Her mind was beginning to spin out of control. [Wait, what about finishing high school and going to college? Rejoining your sisters? Moving out of the trailer park? Although even if I do move out and join my sisters, it will be just like middle school. Me and my sisters. No lovers, no family. You will just be Educated Old Lady Marie. Sure you will find a few short term lovers, but they will not last more than a couple months at best. And that's if I'm lucky. For the most part, it will just be mostly two-week flirts that don't end up going anywhere. And then let's be honest. You have sexual needs. They aren't just going to go away. Since I am not going to be that hoe that gets banged more than a snooze button on Monday morning, I will control myself and not open up to every guy I happen to fall into a fling with. Since most of them will not be long enough to actually get into it, I will have to buy an "auxiliary boyfriend". And with that comes the need for future is going to be a shit-hole if Double D ends up fizzling out.] Her mental hurricane passed just as Double D came to.  
"Wha-" Double D but was violently interrupted.  
"Straighten up and fly right, damn you! I don't want to become a crazy cat lady!" Marie shouted as she slapped Double D across the face.  
"Ow! What was that for?!" Double D yelped.  
"You need to quit being so skittish and blacking out every time you see a bra or hear a dirty comment." Marie said in a demanding voice.  
"I'm trying. You're just going too fast. " Double D said timidly.  
"Well I'm sorry I've got needs. That hussy you once called a girlfriend wasn't going _fast enough_ so I'm picking up the pace. You're 19 and you saw your first shirtless girl a week ago. What kind of shit is that? At the rate you're going, your nerves won't be ready for a girlfriend till you're 50. And that's no way to live. I'm not just doing this for the sex, I'm doing this so you can open up emotionally. At least, to me." Marie explained her "relentless assault". [Although, I wouldn't mind the sex] she thought to herself.  
"I'm going to be honest, it doesn't feel like you're doing this for me. Part of me has enjoyed it, yes, but part of me screams "leave this place! And never return!". I just don't know what to do." Double D admitted.  
"I'm not a 'what', I'm a 'who'." Marie teased. Double D blushed, but said nothing.  
Thanksgiving break was coming to an end, and it showed; Marie seemed slightly distant.  
"Here are your clothes back, I guess." Marie sighed as she handed him the clothes he originally came in.  
"You can just bring my underwear back tomorrow, if you want" she said in a flirty voice; a weak attempt to make herself feel better.  
"What!? Are you crazy? I'm not going to walk into my parents' house wearing women's underwear." Double D was shocked at Marie's offer.  
"If you have pants on, no one will know except you." Marie told him.  
"You do plan to have pants on when you leave, right?" She joked.  
"Of course I do. What kind of... Right... Sorry..." Double D sighed: he took Marie seriously at all the wrong times, and he was sure it was really beginning to bother her. He got dressed and wrapped his boxers around one of his legs to hide it under his pant leg; he wanted to avoid questions about coming home holding his boxers instead of wearing them.  
"As I've told you before, that's my favorite pair, so you better come back. Or I will be coming for you." She warned him. [Oh wait, I already am. I see what I did there] she thought to herself.

"I know you will." Double D sighed.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow" Marie smiled at him.


	6. Chapter 6

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

That first week back from Thanksgiving break, Double D was distant and didn't say much past "hi", even though he did visit Marie's house a few times; he just sat on her bed while she listened to music to mask the awkward silence.

It was finally Friday, and it was today that Marie decided she was going to break Double D's silence. Since he messed with the bull, she was going to get his horn. Double D forgot to lock his car today, so she snuck into the backseat and hid. A few minutes later, she heard Double D open the door and start the engine; he drove home, suspecting nothing. He had turned off the engine and was about to get out of the car when Marie pounced. She grabbed his arms and pulled him back against the seat.  
"You've been distant this week. And you still haven't given me back my underwear. I told you was going to come for you if you tried to run off with them." Marie reminded him.  
"I had a lot of homework. And I had to help my parents with some stuff. I wasn't trying to run off, I swear!" Double D spoke frantically. Marie reached into his belt line and felt that he was currently wearing the underwear in question.  
"You have them on right now, you panty thief!" Marie accused.  
"I hope you haven't worn these all week. That would be really gross." Marie sounded uncomfortable.  
"No! I washed them and took a shower this morning." Double D quickly explained.  
"Wait, you put them on at home?" Marie couldn't believe what she was hearing.  
"Well...I... Uhh..." Double D stuttered, but didn't have any words.  
"I can go change and bring them out to you. No monkey business, I promise" Double D offered. Marie let go of his arms, and Double D went inside; returning a few minutes later.

"Since it's Friday and I don't have to do any homework for tomorrow, you want some company?" Double D asked, because he knew she was going to kidnap him if he didn't go on his own.

"You're asking on your own? Alright, who is she?" Marie asked accusingly.  
"Wha..? Who is who?" Double D sounded confused.  
"You've never asked me to hang out on your own. Something is going on, I just know it." Marie was highly suspicious of his sudden bravery.  
"What? No! There hasn't been anyone in 4 years. I haven't even talked to Ed and Eddy since about the end of middle school. You're basically the first person I've actually talked to in 2 years." Double D explained; the last thing he wanted to do was lose the one person he cared about in the last 4 years.  
"Oh. Well, then sure" Marie smiled as she accepted his offer.  
"So... You've known that I have feelings for you for a week now. But you haven't made a move yet. Or even asked me out. Is something wrong? Are you not attracted to me?" Marie asked, curious about his slower than usual progress.  
"No, I'm highly attracted to you. I just... I don't know. I lost all of my confidence after she left..." Double D protested and then dropped into a mumble.  
"I guess I'm also afraid of rejection." He added in the same tone.  
"You think I would reject you after all that's happened and I've told you I have feelings for you?" She shouted as she slapped him. She shoved his hand up her shirt and into her bra as she locked lips with him. His hand flew up to flail around but slowly settled.  
"Marie...I..." Double D was in shock from such a rapid change in Marie's mood.

"I made the first move for you. The ball is in your court now." Marie almost seemed to be offering her body to him. Double D wasn't sure whether to run, make the next move or just sit there like an awkward statue. When he discovered he could not will himself to move, however, the choice was clear.  
"Hey, so are we going or what? I doubt you want your parents to come out and see you with your hand up some girl's shirt." Marie pulled Double D out of his trance.  
"Oh! Sorry! Yeah we're going." Double D jerked his hand out of her shirt and started the car.  
"You're fixing the mess you made in my shirt when we get to my house" Marie teased him.  
"I hope you let me keep my clothes this time." Double D remembered the last time he came over as he walked up to the door.

"We'll see." Marie giggled. The visit started like the others had been that week, but Double D decided to break the cycle this time.  
"If I may ask, have you/do you currently have anyone?" Double D asked, with slightly more courage.  
"Are you stupid? Or are you implying that you think I would do all this with you if I had a boyfriend?" Marie sounded highly offended.  
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" Double D yelped; he felt bad for implying that she would cheat on someone because he knew she wouldn't.  
"Honestly I kind of knew _you_ didn't; you can be pretty dense sometimes." Marie told him; she wasn't just talking about recently, she meant now AND recently.  
"Also, I've had a few flings that lasted a few days, and one lasted a week, but they didn't go anywhere." Marie added an answer to Double D's question.  
"I know you were social than I was in high school and actually talked to people. How did you not find someone at least semi-permanent?" Double D asked.  
"I don't know, you go find a semi-permanent and see how long it takes you." Marie grumbled.  
"Found one. Checkmate." Double D blurted out without thinking.  
"So there IS someone, you cheating bastard. Obviously she's not doing something right since you're cheating on her with me." Marie accused.  
"I'm talking about you. And I feel that you're more than just semi-permanent." Double D had to explain his verbal slip.

"Did you just indirectly ask me out without actually saying it?" Marie asked. Double D blushed, but said nothing.

"If I'm a permanent, would you tap me?" Marie teased. Double D just sat there like a blushing statue.

"You're no fun." Marie sighed after not seeing any reaction from Double D; not any visible reaction, anyway.

"Well, I'm going to change out of these school clothes. Jeans are only tolerable for so long." Marie said as she stood up and walked to her closet.

"Ok, I'll wait-" Double D began but was interrupted by Marie; she seemed to do that a lot lately.

"You stay right there unless you want to eat carpet." She threatened. Marie hung up her sweatshirt and jeans in the closet, and then sat next to him.

"Just kidding, I'm fully shaved" Marie whispered into his ear. Double D turned a solid shade of red.

"I-I thought you were changing i-into your house clothes" Double D's voice quivered.

"Yeah, in a minute. I wanted to ask you something, and I feel I can guarantee an honest answer like this." Marie told him.

"Why did you stay with her for so long if she didn't make you happy? I saw you around the school with her for a while. You never looked happy. Well, you didn't exactly look like Enzyte Bob in general, but you were even less happy when you were around her." Marie asked.

"Uh…well… I… I don't know. She was helping me come out of my shell. Slowly, but it was more than anyone else had tried. And she was actually getting me somewhere. Her friends talked about the parties they went to a lot, and who got drunk and made out with who. It was nothing major, really, but it was still a bit uncomfortable to be around those conversations at first. After a while, however, I slowly got used to them and quit blushing like a fool. One time she actually took me to her sister's bachelor party. I was wondering how it was going to turn out because I had heard people talking about it the whole week leading up to that day. I ended up sitting in a corner staring at the floor, but that is where I first heard and got into Mudvayne; my first loud band, and the first band more than 3 people on the face of the Earth listened to. It was during the last 5 seconds of their song, 'Never Enough', that she came over to me; she was drunk so she tripped and fell on me. She kissed me and asked me if I was having a good time, then stumbled off back into the main group, probably to drink more. Two weeks later after that party, she….well you know the rest. Her ending a two-year relationship like that...I didn't even know what to do at that point. Getting home and seeing my iPod pick "Do what you do" as the first of my 666 songs didn't help. Neither did actually noticing I had 666 songs on my iPod. That was the first time I had actually looked at the number of songs on my iPod." Double D retold what he remembered about his first love.

"You act all shy, but on the inside you're a fuckin' player. You've gotten further with a girl than I have with any of my boyfriends." Marie lightly shoved him.

"Well, if you can call them that." She scoffed.

"Also, you've never talked that long without stuttering. Especially when I'm undressed and next to you." Marie pointed out; Double D blushed as if he just suddenly remembered she never actually changed into her house clothes.

"Oh don't even start. I know you can't just forget someone isn't dressed." Marie dismissed his blush that she believed was forced.

"Well, I wasn't looking at you at the time of telling the story, and I kind of got lost in remembering it." Double D explained.

"I-if I may ask…" Double D began but trailed off into a mumble; Marie knew what he wanted to ask, so she didn't need to hear his question.

"Honestly, I had no idea what I wanted. I was with a few guys that I thought I liked, but when I actually got together with them, everything changed. There was one guy that I actually stayed with for more than a couple days, but he ended up moving. When he came to tell me that he was moving, I felt a little sad that I wasn't going to see him anymore, but that was only because that was one less person that I knew beyond a name that I got to see at school. He's held my hand once while we were walking down the street to his house, and that was the day he told me we were moving. I don't even remember his face. It's kind of hard to believe someone as shy as you actually got further in a relationship than I did. I'm not trying to be mean about it, it just is what it is." Marie recalled her own dealings with love, or lack thereof. Double D didn't offer any reaction, except for looking confused.

"Fuckin' hell, do I have to spell it out for you? I'm a virgin. Meaning when your dick goes in me, I will most likely make some less than pleasant sounds." Marie growled. Double D turned an intense shade of red and started sweating.

"I… I need a drink if I'm going to survive this visit." He mumbled weakly.

"But you're not twenty one yet. What about the alcohol laws?" Marie teased.

"Never mind the bollocks. Just get me a drink. Please." Double D deflected her verbal jab.

"Well then, one ticket for the crazy train coming up. I'll have a drink too so that you're not drinking alone." Marie said as she walked to the kitchen.

She got a shot glass and a regular glass and set them on the counter. She poured some liquor into the shot glass and then poured it into the regular glass; refilling the shot glass afterward. She filled the rest of the regular glass with Pepsi. She opened the drawer under the counter the glasses were on for a spoon to stir the regular glass, and found a packet of Rock Hard Weekend next to the spoons.

"Lee, what the hell…" Marie giggled to herself. She went to the pantry and got the 3-chamber Sharpstone from behind the bag of flour. [Consider me a permanent but you won't tap me? I'll show you] she thought as she took one of the pills from the packet and ground it up in the Sharpstone. She dumped the ground up pill and the dust in the bottom chamber from it into the liquor and Pepsi mix. She swished the spoon around in the glass to hide the powder. After putting everything up, just in case Double D happened to walk into the kitchen, and carried both glasses to her room. She set her glass on the table and handed Double D his.

"What is this? You want me to get alcohol poisoning or something?" Double D protested when he saw the glass full of "liquor."

"Oh, no. there is only one shot of liquor in here. The rest is Pepsi." She explained.

"Oh. I think I could handle that, then." Double D sounded relieved. He took a drink, but saw that Marie hasn't touched hers yet.

"You said you would drink with me but you haven't yet." Double D sounded nervous.

"Did you put something in my drink and your shot glass is just a distraction?" Double D gasped.

"You worry too much." Marie said as she picked up her glass and knocked it back, like people do in the movies.

"Wow, how did you…" Double D couldn't believe she just drank the whole shot of pure liquor in one gulp.

"I don't drink much, but I know _how_ to drink." Marie said nonchalantly. She got up and put on a t-shirt and sweatpants; Double D would see she is dressed and let his guard down, the pill and liquor will kick in a few minutes later, creating the perfect storm for a perfect crime.

"I really appreciate you doing this for me, even though it is illegal." Double thanked her, taking another drink of his Rock Hard Pepsi liquor.

"Oh, no problem. I want you to be comfortable here, and not just another awkward statue at someone's house." Marie smiled. [Soon, you will be a very horny and animated statue.] She thought to herself.

"So, tell me. What were you thinking the first time you saw me take my shirt off, while I'm sitting on you?" Marie asked.

"That I was going to be violently woken up from my alcohol/illicit drug-induced stupor by a police officer at a park for being drunk in public." Double D replied as he took another drink from his glass to ease the awkwardness of the memory; to be honest, he thought he was going to either die or get raped, but the liquor has not yet fully worn away his inhibitions.

"So when I passed out on the floor, and you survived without dying or getting raped, you realized you were not dreaming?" Marie put words in his mouth; in a few minutes he was going to put more than words in hers.

"Yeah, when I-…wait… that's not what I said" Double D sounded confused; was she reading his mind? Or was he just that obvious about what he was truly thinking?

"You were thinking it. But it's ok, we all get scared sometimes." Marie just about confirmed Double D's fears.

"How did you know?" Double D asked; he wasn't sure if he was ok or not with her reading his mind.

"You taking a drink as you told me was a dead giveaway." Marie said with a smirk. Double D finished his drink and set the glass on the table.

"Like that. I can tell you're still worried about whether I put something in your drink, even if it is mostly in the back of your mind." It was almost like Marie and Double D were sharing one mind.

"Well, you've made the joke before. And you've kidnapped me and made me wear women's underwear. I can't really put anything past you after living through that." Double D admitted he was still worried about foul play involving his drink.

"Oh, you can't tell me there wasn't a part of you that didn't enjoy that" Marie teased him.

"Well, I think I might be going to bed" Marie said as she stretched. Double D's eyes widened as she arched her back.

"The way your chest strains against the fabric of your shirt is very seductive." Double D slurred slightly; the liquor and Rock Hard Weekend were starting to take effect.

"Ooh! Where did you learn to talk like that?" Marie asked in a surprised voice; nearly forgetting she spiked his drink. [Wow, almost believed my own lie. Ha.] She thought to herself.

"It's human nature. Your body just called it out of hiding." Double D said as he swayed back and forth, almost unnoticeably; he wasn't sure if he just thought he was moving or if he actually _was_ moving, so he made no attempt to stop.

"So, you want to see the _real_ Kanker sisters?" Marie asked in a flirty voice as a devious smile crept across her face.

"What? Where?" Double D gasped, seemingly snapping out of the stimulant's trance.

"Not at the door, over here" Marie called as she took off her shirt.

"Oh. _Those _Kanker sisters. Don't scare me like that." Double D giggled.

"Knock, knock!" Double D joked as he reached behind Marie to free them from their hemi-spherical prison. As his hands explored her body, she began to wonder if some of the power fell into her shot glass. Double D's hands did not feel like those of a skittish book nerd but rather someone experienced; almost on the level of an up-and-coming porn star.

"Oh! Hey, let me go close the blinds. It's an OCD thing." Marie's soft moans were interrupted by her clear, normal voice. She got up and walked to the window to close the blinds. As she reached for the string of the blinds, she heard a zipper opening; when the bottom of the blinds touched the window sill, she felt a gun barrel with cloth over it poke her back.

"I may not have a gun, but that doesn't make this any less of a stick-up." Double D said in a slurred, seductive voice. At this point, Marie knew he was all hers.


	7. Chapter 7

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Marie woke up a few minutes before Double D; just enough time to lower the trauma level of the bedroom from "instant death".  
"Mmmmmhh... What happened last night?" Double D groaned like a zombie.  
"You got a little too excited and we had to call Animal Control. You wouldn't let anyone get close to you, so they shot you with a tranquilizer dart." Marie could not resist giving him a false account of events.  
"Wh... Oh! Sorry! I didn't know you slept naked!" Double D yelped and blushed when he turned to look at Marie but strangely didn't turn away as usual.  
"Wait, where are _my_ clothes?" Double D noticed it was just a little colder in the room than he remembers.  
"What did I do last night?" He asked with wide eyes.  
"I'm a 'who' not a 'what'." Marie joked.  
"That's not fun-" Double D began but stopped when he noticed the open condom wrapper on the floor.  
"No! We didn't!" Double D gasped.  
"Yeah, you're right. There wasn't a condom involved." Marie teased.  
"No! I wouldn't defile your body like that!" Double D protested.  
"Oh, you 'defiled' more than just my body." Marie said with a smirk as she took her phone off the table and started going through it.  
"This is all you. Literally." Marie showed him the picture she pulled up on her phone.  
"You can't fool me! That is diluted frosting! You made that picture just to scare me." Double D refused to believe her even with picture proof.  
"I guess I made these to scare you too?" Marie showed him several pictures of her and him in various dirty positions. Double D turned so red he was starting to turn purple; he even started hyper-ventilating.  
"Quit that, your breathing is reminding me of last night and turning me on." Marie said in a slightly flustered voice.  
"I was unprotected. We aren't even together. You're not even 18. Oh, I am in so much trouble. I'll have to leave the country and take an assumed name. Live an-" Double D's rapidly quickening rabble was interrupted by Marie quieting him the one way she knows how; it wasn't working as well as she had hoped, however. Marie poked him in the ribs; this made him exhale hard, which seemed to push Marie's mouth off of his.  
"Chill out. I turn 18 tomorrow. And whose fault is it that we aren't together? You could have asked me out 20 times by now." Marie said in a calming voice. Double D's hyper-ventilating has devolved to moderately heavy breathing.  
"Now I'm sure you put something in my drink. And you thought I was worrying too much" Double D said in between breaths.  
"Oh, it's not like I poisoned you or gave you horse tranquilizers so I could grope you in your sleep. I just made sure you had a good time." Marie dismissed his accusations with a smile.  
"Wait... I feel slightly different. I could feel the air on my hands and face yesterday. Now, it feels like I've got an invisible barrier on me because I don't feel the air anymore. "Double D noticed. [That doesn't sound like Rock Hard Weekend. What _was_ in that packet? I had a feeling it wasn't open just because Lee used it on one of her boyfriends.] Marie thought to herself.  
"I want to see what you put in my drink. Will you allow me that?" Double D asked.  
"Yeah sure. Come with me." Marie motioned for him to follow her.  
"Even though you already did _on_ me." She added with a smirk. They walked into the kitchen and she pulled out the packet of Rock Hard Weekend; as she pulled it out of the drawer, one of the pills fell out. [Wait... That's not the Rock Hard Weekend logo...that's... OH...FUCK. ME. SIDEWAYS. I know he did, but now I know why. This isn't Rock Hard Weekend. This is Ecstasy.] She thought in horror as she stared at the pill.  
"Marie? Are you alright?" Double asked her.  
"I... I'm sorry..." Marie said as a tear slowly rolled down her cheek.

"For what? I mean yeah, it would have been nice if you had at least told me, but if you were just trying to make me feel good...I don't think there was any harm done." Double D assured her she didn't do anything wrong; that he was aware of. She picked up the pill that fell out and put it in front of him without saying a word or turning towards him.  
"The logo looks different than..." It took Double D a minute to realize what it was. The school resource officer did a big lecture on drugs during freshman year, so he saw a lot of different kinds of drugs, but only remembered one of them.  
"This is MDMA! Marie! You know how much trouble I could get into for this?" Double D gasped. Before he could say anything else, he heard his phone vibrating on the metal air vent grill; he rushed to answer it because he had a really strong suspicion it was his parents.  
"Hello?" he tried to sound as calm as possible.  
" good morning. Did you just wake up?" His mom asked.  
"Yeah. We stayed up kind of late so I might sleep for a bit more." Double D lied.  
"Ok. Your father and I actually had plans for most of the day, so you don't have to come home right now unless you want to be alone." She bought it with no questions asked.  
"Ok, well I'll see you tonight then." Double was relieved he didn't have to go home; there was too much to think and talk about. He ended the call and walked back into the kitchen.  
"I... I will understand if you don't want to see or talk to me again..." Marie sobbed quietly.  
"Marie, don't cry. You know I hate seeing you sad. I can't deal with that on top of everything else I just found out." Double D said as he gently put his hand on her shoulder.  
" I just wanted to show you a good time... The sex stimulant was supposed to be a prank. I would have made some jokes about pitching a tent; we would have fooled around, and passed out happy... I never intended to turn you into a druggie." Marie continued sobbing.  
"Marie, please. If you continue crying, you'll get me going too. And I don't think you want to see that." Double D tried to get her to stop crying, but with no luck.  
"Underage drinking, sex with a minor, and now illicit drug use. I'm nothing but a bad influence. You've got all AP courses and perfect attendance. I'm slowly ruining your life..." Marie sobbed.  
"Damn it, Marie! I can't handle this right now, and you're not listening!" Double D slightly raised his voice as he went to pour himself a glass of orange juice. After he drank the first one, he poured himself another glass and walked back to the counter. [This is so wrong on so many levels, but at least this way I can get high on her voice. Literally.] He thought to himself as he picked up the pill on the counter and swallowed it; following it with orange juice. Marie turned to walk to her room and noticed the pill was gone from the counter.  
"Where did the pill go?" She asked him.  
"I ate it. If you're not going to listen to me and keep crying when I tell you everything is going to be fine, then I'll just make myself not give a shit." Double D was never this blunt before.  
"You ate it? But-" Marie started but it was her that got interrupted this time.  
"There is no turning back now. You can join me, or I can go jerk it alone. Your choice; but I'm not going to stand here all day moping about a mistake." Double D gave her an ultimatum.  
"I... Are... You sure?" Marie asked in a quivering voice.  
"We'll, it's not like I can pull the pill out of my stomach. So are you in or out?" Double D asked her again.  
"But... You seemed..." She began but Double D walked off to pour her a glass of orange juice; afterwards he went to the pantry and got the Sharpstone, which was not even hidden behind the flour this time. He rustled the packet of Rock Hard Weekend and another pill fell out with the Superman emblem on it. He put it into the Sharpstone and ground it up even faster than Marie when she did it last night. He dumped the powder into the glass and stirred it.  
"There, we're even. You coming or not?" He said as he started to walk away from the kitchen.  
"I soon will be." Marie said with a smirk after she drank the glass of spiked orange juice.  
"I'm glad our first time was on ecstasy. Because if you were sober you would have been like 'holy shit, you're bleeding. Let me go get a towel. I'm so sorry.' And so on." Marie told Double D when she sat next to him on the bed.  
"Hey, I went to Sex Ed. I know how _that_ works." Double D disagreed.  
"Yeah, you were going to remember something you learned 10 years ago when you're naked staring at a girl who's also naked." Marie scoffed.  
"Also, it did hurt a little because it was my first time; I couldn't really hide it because of shooting back that liquor like that. If you noticed, you would have been like 'oh, no! I'm hurting you. I'm so sorry.' Blah blah blah." She added.  
"Hey, have some faith in me, or you are going to have something else in you in a minute." Double D teased; he seemed more relaxed in these 20 minutes than he has been in the whole time he's known her before today. Maybe he was panicking so hard that the panic part of his brain just shut down from an overload?  
"That will actually be easier than having faith in you around girls." Marie teased.  
"Oh, you're going to get it now" he said as his hands started exploring her body.  
"Oh, shit! Where did you..." Marie moaned loudly as his hands slid up her body; the sensation of his hands on her skin was so powerful, it caused her vision to darken momentarily. The ecstasy must have taken effect, because everything felt like it was going to make her climax.

When Marie woke up, her whole body was throbbing; not with pain, but as if her whole body was a heart.  
"Ugh... I feel like jello from the neck down." Double D woke up a few seconds after she did.  
"I feel like my entire body is a heart." Marie told him.  
"And you want to make hearty jello, right?" Double D teased.  
"Um... No. That sounds really lame. Why don't you leave the jokes to me." Marie giggled.  
"So are you a converted optimist now?" Double D asked.  
"I'm not sure. I might need more...convincing..." Marie smiled deviously. Strangely, it was this line that seemed to dispel the calm Double D as a cross wards off vampires.  
"Why are we still naked?" Double D asked.  
"Well, in exchange for me having some faith in you, you had something else in me." Marie teased. Double D blushed at this comment.  
"I don't get you. You've been inside me twice in the last 12 hours, yet I still can't make a dirty joke without you blushing." Marie sighed in frustration. [You just wait till Christmas break. I'll give you something to blush about.] She thought to herself.  
"Happy birthday!" Double D chirped. He started forcing himself to feel her up but she gently pushed his hand off.  
"Thanks. And I appreciate the gesture, but my body is still throbbing; I feel like I ran a marathon. I'm going to take a nap." Marie thanked him for his effort to make her birthday special, and fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

School seemed to drag by when she got there on Monday morning. After she went home, she just melted into her bed under the sound of her iPod. The next 3 days went by so fast that she thought she had slept through them and just woke up Friday morning; then she blinked and school was over for the week. She had managed to pickpocket Double D's keys during her class together with him; she went to the parking lot and found his car.

"I could have sworn I parked here this morning. It couldn't have been stolen. It's a gated school." Double D was getting nervous when he got to the parking lot and noticed his car wasn't there. He heard a car pull up behind him and a door open, but before he could turn around he was pushed into the back seat of the car through the already open door; he didn't even stop moving fully from being shoved when the car took off.

"How did you get my keys? What's going on?" Double D asked when he realized whose car it was and who the driver was. Not even a minute later after he was pushed into the back seat, they pulled up to Marie's house.

"One more week till Christmas Break!" Marie chirped as she got out of the car.

"What's on Christmas Break?" Double D asked, not fully sure where she was going with her announcement.

"You will be mine! All mine!" Marie almost sounded like a mad scientist.

"Um…." Double D didn't know how to respond to that.

"I just really enjoyed our Thanksgiving Break and this last weekend together. So I'm looking forward to our next break. Also, I'm just overall in a really good mood right now." Marie sounded very happy and full of energy. Double D has never seen her like this, but he was definitely glad to.

"So, what are your parents' plans for Christmas Break?" Marie asked him when they got inside.

"Probably going somewhere. We haven't done a family Christmas for a while now." Double D sighed indifferently.

"I guess you really will be all mine then." Marie teased.

"So tell me, when are you going to be able to handle me naked while sober?" Marie asked with a smirk.  
"W-well, I did Sunday." Double D said nervously.  
"You were so stressed out you weren't even yourself. I don't think you even noticed I was naked at the time." Marie reminded him of how he _really_ handled the situation.  
"Why does everything have to be about being naked with you? I can prove I'm not a pushover in other ways." Double D protested Marie's way of measuring his nerves.  
"Oh? And how is that?" Marie was genuinely curious; Double D Was a pushover and he knew it, but he will try hard to prove otherwise.  
"Rock climbing." Double D said without thinking.  
"Rock climbing?" Marie repeated in a shocked tone; did she hear that right? [He roll hard and I never even guessed.] She thought to herself.  
"Yeah. I've honestly always wanted to scale a cliff wall or a mountain. Looks like it could be interesting." Double D confirmed she heard right.  
"Well, alright." Marie accepted his offer to prove the strength of his nerves and started getting ready.  
"You need help with your harness?" She asked when she was finished putting hers on.  
"Yeah, I've never done this before" Double D left himself open for Marie's wit.  
"You've never done me before either, but you didn't ask for help with that... Oh wait..." She teased. She finished securing his harness and they headed out to the car; just to be prepared, she went ahead and tied the rope to her harness. [I probably will be the only one using the grappling hook; Double D wouldn't use it even if he had to] she thought as she tied it to the other end of the rope.  
"Ready when you are" Marie announced.  
"I may not have done this before, but will learn; like I've learned a lot of things from being with you." Double D sounded optimistic; with that, they headed out.

"I don't like driving along these winding canyon roads. You never know what's around the corner and there is no-" Double D was interrupted by Marie's four-alarm warning.

"DEER!" Marie shouted. Double D threw the wheel to the right and crashed through the guard rail; not wasting even a second, Marie threw the door open and leaped out. She threw the grappling hook towards the road and it caught onto the top of the guard rail. As she hung on the side of the cliff, she watched the car sail through the air towards the lake at the bottom.

[So this is it. Marie left me to die in a watery grave. I must be gay. I chose to go dangle from a cliff on a rope over looking at Marie's naked body, which she was more than ready to show me.] Double D thought as he watched the lake get closer. [At least I will die happy. That crime spree was oddly satisfying.] As he finished that thought, the car landed in the lake with a giant splash. He was thrown against the seat belt by the force of the impact; the airbag deployed and bounced him back at his seat, momentarily stunning him. [Whoa… am I still alive? I'm still alive! Time to kick rocks] he thought when he realized he wasn't dead just yet. He unbuckled his seatbelt and broke the window with the specialized hammer he had gotten for his birthday; he always kept it in the console just in case, and today it came in handy. He grabbed the rope and grappling hook and crawled out of the window. [So now what do I do? I have no idea where I am, my cell phone is soaked, Marie probably thinks I'm dead, and my car is at the bottom of the lake. All this because I wanted to prove I was something I wasn't in the first place.] He thought once he reached the shore. He mentally cursed himself for ever coming out here. He started walking towards the cliff that the car flew off of. [Since I have nothing else left, I might as well go try what I originally came here to do.] He thought as he tied one end of the rope to the grappling hook, and the other end to his harness. He walked along the canyon wall for a while until he found a place that looked climbable. [Oh, hey, even better. This tree will help me get up to the road faster.] He noticed a large tree next to the cliff wall. He was able to climb up to one of the branches and throw his grappling hook at the guard rail; it took him 30 minutes to actually hook the guard rail, but he finally did it. He rested for about the same amount of time, and then got to climbing.

Marie was walking down the road, trying to find a suitable place to climb down and try to find Double D; if he was alive to find. [He's got a decent will to live, but crashing through a guard rail and flying off the canyon into a lake is way more intense than anything I've put him through. At least when he was at my house, the worst that could happen is he could black out and wake up a few minutes later. I don't think he's gay, but times like these I really wonder. I would honestly rather blush from looking at some guy's pecker than risk my life trying to prove I'm something I'm not.] She was worried about Double D. He wasn't completely helpless, but this was too rapid of an environment change. [Maybe I should have stayed in the car with him. I wouldn't be as worried about him then.] She began to doubt whether her decision to bail was the right one. [What am I talking about _maybe_? If he can't handle seeing some boobs, he's not going to be able to handle crawling out of a sinking car, especially after the bone-jarring impact of the car crashing onto the surface of the lake. What have I done? If he is alive, he will never forgive me for this. I've said that before, but his life was not at risk before. He will get over me drugging him, but there is no way to get over someone leaving you for dead.] Marie started sobbing. [I have abandoned the one person that truly made me happy. If he's not dead, he is still forever out of my reach; if not geographically, emotionally for sure.] Marie started walking towards the guard rail and climbed over it. [Death greets me warm, now I will just say "good bye"] James Hetfield's ominous tone floated through her mind.

"Good bye" she mumbled in step with the memory of "Fade to Black" as she was standing on the edge of the cliff. She was about to step off when she heard strained grumbling. She looked around and noticed there was a grappling hook hanging on to the railing a few feet from her.

"I'll… show that deer who's… ugh…" Double D grunted in a strained voice. Marie froze where she stood. Did she dare hope it was Double D? No. better not. Getting out of the car is one thing, however improbable, but climbing a cliff face alone with no experience? No. she wasn't buying it. Part of her really wished it was true; she wouldn't know what to say to him, but to at least see him alive would make her feel tons better than she is now. Double D's hat soon peeked into view. [Either the wind is seriously screwing with me, or I am witnessing a miracle] Marie thought in disbelief.

"What the hell do you think you're doing on this side of the railing?" Marie heard Double D's gruff voice when he finally climbed up and grabbed on to the rail.

"I…. I thought…" Marie stuttered; she couldn't believe her eyes. Against all odds, there he was, standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Double D!" she burst into tears and embraced him.

"I didn't mean to just leave you like that. I just got scared." She said through sobs.

"Didn't think I would see you again. Hell, didn't think I would leave that car alive." Double D's gruff voice was music to her ears.

"You have no idea how much I appreciate you still talking to me after this. I really don't deserve it." Marie was glad beyond words to know Double D was alive and still talking to her. At least for now.

"Come on, let's go home." Double motioned her to follow him. They walked for a few minutes until Double D realized something.

"I have no idea where the fuck I'm going. You've got a cell phone still, I'll bet. You lead the way." Marie kind of liked this gruff version of Double D, even though seeing this version came at a very high price. She set the GPS in her phone to the trailer park, and they started on their way home.

"I've got to call my parents. They are probably wondering why I haven't come home from school yet. And why my phone is going straight to voice mail." Double D said as he went to pick up Marie's phone.

"Hello, Anotucci residence, Mrs. Anotucci speaking." Double D's mother answered.

"Hey, I went rock climbing with a friend, but I had to swerve to miss a deer in the road. Since it was only a 2-lane road, and it was taking up most of the 2 lanes, I ended up flying off the road and landed into a lake. I finally used that glass hammer tool you bought for me. Then I had to climb back up the cliff wall to get back home. My phone got destroyed, and the car is at the bottom of the lake. I'm going to be staying at a friend's house." Double D filled her in on the recent events.

"At you had fun. I wish I could go rock climbing. Oh well, I'll call the insurance company tomorrow." His mother seemed un-phased by the news of her son's near-death experience.

"I found something…troubling in your closet today. If the friend you are staying with is of the opposite sex, you don't have to come home until Sunday. You have my permission to have sex with them should the opportunity arise." She said in a slightly more concerned tone.

"Right…..um….I'll… see you... Sunday then?" Double D managed to get out in an awkward tone. Did his mom really just tell him that?

"See you Sunday." His mother said and hung up.

"Something will arise, alright" Marie teased.

"Did your mom really, basically, just tell you to have sex with me?" Marie asked, holding back laughter.

"Yeah…. They found your underwear in my closet, and now they think I'm gay." Double D grumbled.

"I put them in the closet because I thought 'oh I'll just get them Friday when I go visit her.'. But then I never ended up going to my house, and then they had to hang up my dress shirt today, so yeah…" Double D explained why his mother was so weird on the phone.

"Honestly, the whole time between flying off the cliff and meeting up with you, I was also starting to wonder if I was gay or not. I had left the comfort and safety of home, which had a girl willing to get naked for me, to risk my life trying to prove I'm something I'm not." Double D admitted.

"So are you glad you're back in the safety and comfort of said home with said girl who is actually more than willing to get naked for you?" Marie asked him with a flirty smile.

"Oh yeah. It's a lot easier to take your shirt off than to climb a cliff face." Double D said with a slight laugh.

"Well, you've already climbed a cliff face, so…" Marie hinted.

"So…what?" Double D asked in his usual slightly confused tone. [Fuckin' hell, I did it again.] Marie mentally cursed herself for dispelling Double D's gruff side she liked so much.

"You said it was a lot easier to take my shirt off than to climb a cliff face. So I said, 'well you already climbed a cliff face, so…'." Marie quoted him and then repeated what she said in response.

"Oh… please. I don't want to go rock climbing again." Double D declined her indirect offer.

"Look, eventually we aren't going to have liquor or X to help you get over your shyness. Eventually you will have to hard-cast foreplay." Marie decided to be blunt with him.

"This is one of those times I'm guessing?" Double D asked. Marie sighed.

"No… I just… never mind I guess… I'm going to go to bed. Night" Marie said in a dejected tone and lumbered to her room. [I feel bad for indirectly making her leave like that. I should at least go apologize.] Double D thought as he walked to her room. When he walked past the threshold, he heard a faint humming sound accompanied by soft moans and irregular breathing. As he got closer to Marie, the noises got slightly louder. When he got to arms reach of her, he noticed that the humming sound had a slight pulse to it; it sounded like it was coming from the seat of the chair Marie was sitting in. He looked up at the computer screen and saw a half-naked man fondling a woman in just her underwear. Double D's hand reached up to cover his mouth but scraped against the back of the computer chair and gave away his position.

"Double D! I… uh… it's…" Marie stuttered as she whirled around and tried to hide her 'accessory'; she was a bright shade of red. Double D was also slightly blushing.

"Um…s-sorry... f-for interrupting… I just thought I, w-would come in and apologize for earlier." Double stuttered; the video on the computer screen was still going and so was the humming sound, which made it really hard to concentrate.

"n-no… It's fine… I… I just thought I would… take care of business myself…" Marie continuously avoided looking him in the eye. She sat in her chair, as Double D stood in front of her and stared. After a few minutes, Double D finally spoke.

"I…uh… I'll let you get back to…um… your business" Double D stuttered and walked out of the room. Marie stared at the door for a few more minutes, then quietly got up and closed it; making sure to lock it this time.

[I just walked in on her…and she was blushing just like I was. I never imagined that I of all people could make her blush.] Double D thought; he just couldn't believe it. [I went out to prove I can be a man, only to get back and make her turn to herself for pleasure.] Double D was disappointed in himself. He sat in the living room for a few more minutes; thinking about the events of the last half of the day, then went to Marie's room to go to bed. He saw the door was fully closed, but when he tried the doorknob, it was unlocked. Marie was already in bed when he came in, so he tried to be as quiet as possible. He quietly climbed into bed, and fell asleep within a few minutes.


	9. Chapter 9

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Double D woke up a few seconds before Marie.

"Good morning" Double D smiled.

"Good morning. Uh….about yesterday… I… I'm sorry you had to see that. I should have been more careful and locked the door." Marie apologized for leaving the door open last night.

"No, you shouldn't have had to go to your room. You went there because I failed to satisfy you myself." Double D's calming voice distracted Marie from noticing his hand very slowly creeping up her thigh.

"Well, I decided I was going to back off of always forcing you into it. Because that's what lead to us going rock climbing. I had thought I lost you. I felt horrible." Marie told him why she didn't just continue to press on yesterday.

"I felt bad when you went to your room yesterday because I went out to prove I could do more than blush at dirty comments, but in the end failed in that endeavor." Double D's hand was up to her hip now, slowly starting to creep into her shirt.

"When you came in yesterday, and I realized you were behind me, I finally felt what I made you feel; I couldn't move and I could barely think or talk." Marie described her side of him walking in on her.

"When I saw that video on your screen and heard the humming, I knew I had failed as a provider." Double D described his side of him walking in on her; he saw her blush and knew she realized his hand was on her.

"Uh… I'm going to go get breakfast ready" Marie chirped nervously and disappeared into the kitchen. [Marie? Shying away from _my_ hands? What fresh hell is this?] Double D lay in bed for a few minutes, stunned by what happened. He got up and got dressed, then headed to the kitchen. He very quietly walked up behind Marie and slowly slid his hands up her shirt.  
"You're not wearing a bra?" Double D noticed as his hands touched skin and not cloth as he was expecting.  
"Ah... Please... I... I need to get breakfast *soft gasp* ready." Marie was blushing again as she moaned softly.  
"Uh... I..." Double D felt his face getting hot. Marie gently pushed his hands down and out of her shirt.  
"You were in such a hurry to start breakfast, you didn't even put pants on." Double D noticed that she wasn't wearing pants; for a few seconds he thought she wasn't wearing underwear either until he saw a thin green line going around her waist.  
"Eep! Don't look!" She chirped and vanished into the bedroom. She came out a few minutes later and finished preparing breakfast.  
"I hope you like it. It's been a while since I've made an omelet." Marie said in a slightly nervous tone.  
"Ok, you've got to tell me what's going on. You're starting to act like me when I first met you." Double D asked, curious about the sudden change of roles.  
"I was so used to you being submissive, that when you started making your own decisions and started being less shy around me, I got a little scared." Marie explained her weird behavior over the past 20 hours.  
"Oh. Hm. Makes sense. I was always shy and skittish so when I suddenly changed, it scared you." Double D thought about his usual behavior around her before yesterday.  
"I'm a little confused though. Isn't this what you wanted me to be like originally?" Double D asked.  
"Yeah, but now that you Are open like this, I realize I liked it better the other way. I mean, I don't mind you touching me openly, but it's kind of intimidating." Marie admitted.  
"I don't think I can go back to the old me. The cliff experience snapped something in me." Double D cautioned her.  
"Well, if it did, I will have to get use to it." Marie sighed; she really kind of enjoyed controlling Double D with her body, but now it seems the tables have turned and _he_ is controlling _her_.

"You haven't said much all day so far. Is it really that big of a change, even though it's what you have been striving for since we started talking to each other again?" Double D noticed Marie was unusually quiet today; both talking and music-wise. Marie looked like she was lost in her sketchbook, and said nothing. He decided to look at what she was drawing that she was concentrating on so intensely. Double D was a vampire standing in the doorway of an old bedroom, his shadow looming over the bed. [Vampires don't have shadows. Even I know that.] Double D thought to himself as he further examined the picture. Marie was in the shadow-covered bed, paralyzed with fear. [He he, I've got a terrible idea.] He thought as he kissed the side of her neck. A couple seconds later, he felt something sharp stab into his right shoulder; followed by Marie whirling around in her chair and kicking him towards the door. He reeled from the impact of her foot and crashed into the doorframe; sliding down it to settle on the floor.  
"Marie, I…" Double D mumbled weakly before losing consciousness; his mind was going so fast that there were no visibly separate thoughts anymore, just a sickening blur of chatter.

"What have I done…?" Marie whispered when she realized what happened. She looked down and saw that her pencil had blood on it. [No…. no, this isn't happening.] Marie thought in horror as her eyes widened. She rushed over to Double D and started looking for an entry wound; barely finding it because, after all, it was only a pencil. She took his shirt off to get a better look at the wound but it didn't really look serious at all; he was bleeding, but there was no gaping cut or hole in his shoulder. She cleaned him up and put him on her bed; she knew she couldn't stay with him if he was going to live past 19. [Now I've gone and done it. I directly drew blood and then kicked him. I have to leave him before I hurt him even more seriously; things have escalated this far, I don't want to know what the next step is.] She thought as she started writing a good-bye note; she couldn't just disappear, she loved him too much and knew that would devastate him, not that he wouldn't take this hard either.

"Dear Double D,

I've had more fun being with you these last couple of months than I have in the last 3 years, which is why it is very hard for me to tell you what I'm about to. I can't be with you anymore if you're going to live past 19. You may have gone rock climbing and explored a girl's body after taking hardcore drugs, but there is still so much more to life you haven't experienced. And I want you to have that experience. So that is why I must leave. I know it will be hard at first, but try to think about our good times together and smile.

I hope you have a good life filled with great people :)  
I'm sorry I could not provide or be same.

Love, your exiled permanent, Marie Kanker"

She picked up his shirt and went to Lee's room. She knew he was going to go home eventually so she was going to make his injury look like an accident; she was completely forgetting it was only a pencil stab, which is barely if at all visible if you are further than two feet from it. She got the gun from Lee's dresser and went outside; she knew Double D's parents wouldn't ask questions if there was a bullet hole in his shirt, and he came in wearing it. She knew it didn't make sense, but knowing his parents, it did. She walked outside and started looking for a place to hang up the shirt.

Double D finally came to, and found himself looking at the ceiling as usual. [I really shouldn't have done that…but I didn't know she would flip out like that] He thought as he got up. He noticed there was complete silence in the house, and there was a note on the table.

"Dear Double D… fun being with you…can't be with you… past 19…" Double D mumbled as he read.

"What? No! She can't-" Double D's protest was interrupted by a gunshot, which sent a painful chill down his spine.

"Marie!?" Double D shouted and ran outside. He ran behind the mobile home to where he heard the gunshot from and saw Marie standing there with a gun, aiming at his shirt that was hung on a tree. [She's gone completely nuts! I better go before I share the fate of my shirt.] He thought as he quietly turned around and crept back behind the mobile home. [No. there has to be a logical explanation for all this. She may have been a bit weird at times, ok maybe a lot of weird, but this is out character for her. I should talk to her and find out what's going on. After I find a bulletproof vest maybe.] Double D thought as he was trying to make sense of what he just saw. About this time, Marie was coming around the corner of the mobile home to put Double D's shirt back on him; she didn't know he was already up and sitting outside. [Double D! he's sitting outside. What's he doing out here? Why hasn't he left? Is he still considering staying here?] Marie's mind raced. A random cough escaped her throat, alerting Double D to her presence. Double D turned to see that it was her and got up to run, but didn't actually start running just yet; his shirt was covering the gun, making Marie appear less threatening.

"Please don't go… I'm sorry I tried to change you… I didn't know it would end like this." She reached out to him, but with her gun hand by accident; the shirt shifted and fell off her arm, revealing the gun. Double D took off running; it may be an empty park, but she still wouldn't risk shooting towards the cul-de-sac.

"Double D if you leave now, I swear I will kill us both!" Marie shouted. [Did I really just say that? What is wrong with me? Is this what happens when you are losing grip on something you were never supposed to have in the first place?] Marie started to seriously question her sanity. Double D froze in place; if she was going to kill both him _and _herself, it wouldn't matter what she risked. Marie slowly walked up to him and put down the gun.

"Please, let me explain. I got completely lost in drawing. So then when you kissed my neck, it almost felt like you bit me and I thought you were a vampire. I know doesn't make any kind of sense, but that's what happened. I knew you had to go home eventually so I wanted to make the hole on your shirt look like an accident; if you showed up wearing a shirt with a bullet hole, I know your parents wouldn't ask questions. Because if you walk in wearing it, and you don't show any signs of distress, they will assume you're fine and go on about their day." Marie explained how his vampire prank spiraled out of control. Double D kicked the gun away from her and dashed to pick it up.

"You're crazy! You would kill us both just because I left? Just let me go. I can't live like this. I really tried but you are seriously getting to be too much for me." He said as he aimed at her; he knew he could never actually pull the trigger, but he knew he could get out alive if he could just bluff and convince her that he _could_ pull the trigger.

"Oh, please. I don't believe for a second that you would actually shoot me. Climbing out of a sinking car is one thing. Taking a human life unlike anything else in the world. Most people hope they never have to. If you have actually been forced to end another person's life, you have truly been broken." Marie scoffed at Double D's bluff as she started slowly walking towards him.

"Marie, please don't make me do this. I'm begging you. I'll never be able to forgive myself. Please. Just let me go. At least for a little while so I can recover." Double D pleaded with her, but she kept getting closer.

"Yeah, you'll come back just like you returned my underwear." Marie teased him; she dropped into a running stance and quickly stole two running steps, leaping towards Double D.

"I hate you!" Double D's body tightened as his eyes shut and he pulled the trigger. The gunshot stole his hearing for a few seconds and left him with a ringing sound in his ears, drowning out Marie's pained yelp. She crashed into him from the momentum of her leap and knocked him on the ground.

[Oh no… I…. I actually…. No… this is just a nightmare. That's what it is. I just got really drunk at Marie's house and passed out on her bed, and now I'm here] He thought; he refused to believe that he had just killed the one girl that truly loved him.

"Just kidding, those are blanks" Marie looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"Oh... You're alive!" Double D sighed with relief.  
"You're one hell of a roller coaster, you know that?" he added.

"So ride me already." Marie teased.  
"Uh... My mother is calling, so maybe later" Double D laughed nervously.  
"Your cell phone is broken. And your mother wouldn't just call some random number to talk to you. Too much effort. As long as you're not gay, you've got free reign to do whatever. That is the impression I got from you and from the conversation I heard between you and her." Marie scoffed at his terrible attempt at an excuse to change the subject; she decided to let it go, however, and got up to go inside. Double D picked his shirt up and followed her.

"You're going to have to tell me about your parents' reaction to the bullet hole in your shirt." Marie said as she poured herself a glass of water and went to sit on the couch.  
"Hopefully they will stop thinking I'm gay. Not sure what they will say when they notice it goes all the way through." Double would be completely fine if all they reacted with was "well, I guess you're not gay, so carry on."  
Double D poured himself a glass of water and sat next to Marie. As he sat down on the couch, he accidentally sat on the remote, turning on the TV.  
"Due to gross negligence at Beleren Pharmaceutical, a large amount of prescription anti-psychotics and other non-prescription medications have gotten into the city water supply. Do not drink the tap water if you live in the Peach Creek area. I repeat, DO NOT drink the tap water if you live in the Peach Creek area."  
"So we have been drinking all these medications for at least a few days now. " Marie looked down at her glass.  
"What will happen to me now? Taking a pill to experiment is one thing, but drinking an entire pharmacy for several days?" Double D wondered out loud.  
"I'm going to die..." Double D mumbled. He sat there for a few minutes, milling over this recent development. "I feel light-headed. Like I blew up several balloons in a row." he whispered to himself as the hum of the refrigerator took on a very slight ethereal quality.  
[I've done nothing but hurt and reject Marie. I should leave but I know she won't let me. I should leave _permanently_. She can drag you back from your house, but can she drag you back from the dead?] A random thought popped into his head. [Oh, Marie is looking especially hot today. The way she's sitting, and the way her clothes hug her body... Oof, I would hit that out of the park. While we are _in_ the park] followed not even a second after his first thought. [It's been a while since I've been this happy. It's the weekend and I'm sitting at Marie's house. I thought I would only see this in my dreams.] Double D was starting to get scared. He went from having suicidal thoughts, to highly aroused, to grinning like an idiot in the span of five seconds. [How dare she pull a gun on me and then gamble on her life? What are we having for lunch? I'm starving.] Double D's thoughts started to run together. [Marie is going through a tough time right now, and I need to make sure I'm there for and that picture in my room is crooked.] Double D decided he was going to leave before his mind got any worse.  
"Marie, I think the pills are starting to take potato. I better leave before it gets worse." Double D told her.  
"You just said that in a growl, while crying and pitching a tent. You're really scaring me, now." Marie told him what she saw and heard. Double D put his glass on the counter and walked towards the door.  
"I hope to see you again when this is all over." He said as he walked out and closed the door behind him.

Double D got home, and went to his room; he didn't want his parents to think he's possessed or started doing drugs. He was sitting on his computer deciding what to do, when he heard his mother's voice.  
"Edd, dinner is - oh my word, is that a bullet wound?" Double D's mother was about to call him to dinner when she noticed the bullet hole in his short and the stab wound from the pencil; it looked like a gunshot wound through the small hole on his shirt.  
"Yeah, me and a friend were mistaken for deer when we went rock climbing. I'm fine now though." Double D lied.  
"And you just walked into the house like nothing happened. You're so calm about it. You've grown into a fine young man." Double D's said in a proud voice.  
"Your father and I couldn't be more proud. We have really outdone ourselves raising you." Double D's mother smiled.  
"Son, you've made me proud beyond words. You've grown from 'possibly gay' to 'nerves of steel'. I am proud to call you my son." Double D's father said as he entered the room.  
"Your father and I were planning to move out and give you the house when you turned 21, but after this, we think you're ready now." Double D's mother told him of her plan.  
"I officially present to you the keys to the house. Keep making us proud." His father said as he gave him the keys.  
"We have already put in a call for the car replacement. To celebrate the start of your adult life. We will miss you and call often. " He added. [Now I can really see how much water they drink daily] he thought as they walked out if his room. Double D sat and thought, for a few minutes, about this development and how his parents reacted beyond what Marie predicted.  
"I hope they fix the water soon. Everything else will slowly fix itself afterwards. "Double D sighed and went to bed.


	10. Chapter 10

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Double D was in college now. It was ok, but he didn't really talk to anyone. He missed Marie, but knew he couldn't think about her too much because he couldn't afford to get distracted; college work was serious, so he had to actually pay attention because most of the material was new.

"I got to get a candy bar or something to hold over through this next class. Then I can finally go get lunch." Double D walked towards a vending machine on the way to his next class. When he pulled out what he thought was four quarters, they turned out to be four nickels.

"Curse you, nickels. I knew I should have checked before I left my house." Double D grumbled. He was about to turn away and walk to class when heard the sound of a vending machine pulling in paper money.

"You should get something. You look hungry." A female voice called. Double D turned around to see a girl in a Periphery hoodie and black jeans putting up her wallet.

"h-hi…" Double D stuttered; Marie was the only person to just randomly walk up to him, and even she knew him beforehand.

"Hello. Did I startle you?" the girl asked.

"Uh, yeah. Didn't think anyone knew me here" Double replied.

"Well, I don't know you, but I thought I would help." She smiled.  
"Also, I kind of like lone wolves." She added in a voice that was almost a whisper.  
"Oh. Well thank you. I-I'm Edd. But most people just call me Double D." Double D introduced himself.  
"I'm Ashley." She smiled.  
"Nice to meet you." Double D was also smiling; maybe college wouldn't be as antisocial as he thought. He was about to leave for class when he had a realization. [It's the first day of class, and she just randomly started talking to me. I'm going to be late anyway so I'll just stay and talk with her. Ask her to lunch. I'm tired of being the ghost in the crowd.] He thought as he turned to retrieve the dollar from the vending machine.  
"Since I'm going to be late anyway, you want to go somewhere for lunch?" Double D asked her.  
"You just met me 10 seconds ago and you're asking me to lunch?" Ashley asked him in a tone he wasn't sure how to interpret. Double D blushed slightly.  
"Well...uh... If, you..." Double D instantly lost his cool, collected exterior.  
"Oh, you're too cute." Ashley giggled.  
"That sounds great." She added. They went to a local on-campus diner because there was almost no one there at the time. She had flirted her way into getting his phone number, and went on her way. They didn't talk much at first; well, He didn't talk much at first, she talked kind of a lot. Double D did his best to answer when she asked him questions, but she was always the one to talk first; if she didn't, they just didn't talk that day. Double D noticed he was opening up to Ashley faster than he was to Marie. Then again, Ashley was also a lot more subtle and calm than Marie. He enjoyed talking to her, but he just could not force himself to text her first/ask her a question.

Two years went by like this; she would ask him questions, he would answer, and then she would ask him more questions. Occasionally she talked about her own life, and what she was doing outside of class. She was slightly disappointed that asking him questions repeatedly was the only way she could get him to talk, but she decided to press on; maybe eventually he would talk on his own. Finally, one day, she called him.  
"Ashley! Uh... Hi!" Double D chirped nervously; she's always just texted him, so this took him by surprise.  
"Hey, do you think you could come over? Playing "20 questions" gets old after a while." She joked.  
"Yeah, sure. And sorry." Double D apologized for being quiet and borderline antisocial. He got to her house and she opened the door as if she was waiting all day just for him.  
"So... I'm sorry to be blunt, but you've left me no choice." Ashley said in a slightly foreboding tone, but with a smile. This causes memories of Marie's bluntness to come flooding back.  
"You haven't talked first even once. Or asked me any questions. I hate it when a guy makes me do all the work. So you mind telling me what's up?" Ashley confronted him, but not too harshly and with a smile.  
"I... " Double D sighed.  
"There was this girl in high school that I really liked. We were never officially together, but it really felt like it. She was very blunt and kind of intimidating. Part of me kind of liked it." Double D finally spilled the beans; and this time in more than 160 characters.  
"What do you mean she was intimidating? How?" Ashley asked him.  
"I... I don't think you want to know. I like talking to you. Even though it's you doing most of the talking. So I don't want to lose you." Double D declined to detail on what he meant by intimidating.  
"Oh, you shouldn't have said that. Because know I want to know even more. Come on. You can't just tell me she's intimidating and I don't want to know how. And then just leave it t that." Ashley teased him.  
"Come on. You told me this much. So at least part of you wants to tell me." She prodded.  
"Please?" She was relentless, but a different kind than Marie. She was more like a kitten that was intent on playing with your sock. Marie was like a German Sheppard who thought it was a lapdog.  
"Ok, how about this? If you tell me how she was intimidating, I'll let you feel me up. How does that sound?" Ashley asked in a flirty voice. Double D blushed and made some incoherent stuttering noises.  
"Oh jeez, I'm just kidding. But seriously, I want to know. Please?" She batted her eyes at him. This seemed to be the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back.  
"Alright. You've talked me into it. But I will be very depressed if I lose you over this." Double D reluctantly agreed.  
"I'll still be here. I promise." Ashley assured him.  
"At first it wasn't really that bad. She made some dirty comments, but it wasn't anything serious. Then Thanksgiving Break came." Double D sighed after "Thanksgiving Break came".  
"Oooh, don't stop now." Ashley encouraged him.  
"I had actually come over the night before and spent the night there. The next morning I had to fly out of bed and zip off to school to avoid being late. When we got there, however, we found out there was no school because of the break. That's when she said 'well, I'm going home. And taking you with me.' At first I thought ' oh since I'm here, we will just go to her house, instead of me dropping her off and going home. I did actually try to leave when we got there, and was met with violent resistance. She physically dragged me into her house, and then tied my hands and feet with socks." Double D took a short break.  
"She sounds pretty kinky. And yeah, that is kind of scary." Ashley agreed.  
"Go on..." She nodded for him to continue.  
"Later on, I went to take a shower, and she took all of my clothes. I said I wasn't going to come out naked and said 'fine. You can have these.' So she took off her underwear and tossed them over the shower curtain bar. And then sat in the bathroom until I finally put them on and came out of the shower. She even armed the burglar alarm so I wouldn't escape through the window. The whole break, I had nothing on except for that pair she gave me." Double D's voice quivered slightly during that last part.  
"Wow. Um... That's... That's something..." Ashley was at a partial loss for words.

"And then there was the weekend after Thanksgiving Break…" Double D mumbled without realizing he was thinking out loud.

"Oooh, what happened the weekend after Thanksgiving Break?" Ashley's eyes were wide with curiosity.

"Wha….no, you don't want to know. It's kind of graphic. I… I don't want to offend you." Double D blushed and declined to comment any further on what he just accidently let slip.

"Oh, but you had me at 'It's kind of graphic'. You can't say something like that and then not tell me. That's just mean." Ashley was not letting go of the subject.

"No, I… I shouldn't have said that." Double D declined again.

"But you did, and that's what matters. So come on, please? I won't be offended." Ashley promised.

"Alright. Since you asked, I guess…" Double D sighed.

"She called me and invited me over, since I didn't have anything that needed to be done right away, I went over there. We talked for a bit. Then I asked her for a drink. I was a little uncomfortable with the conversation we were having so I thought I would ask her if I could go get myself a shot of the liquor she had in the refrigerator. She said she will get it for me because she was going to get a drink too. She got me a regular glass. Poured a shot of liquor in it, and then filled the rest with Pepsi. "Double D began.

"I don't know what you were scared of. This isn't anything bad." Ashley sounded slightly disappointed.

"Then she crushed up and ecstasy pill and stirred it in too." Double D remedied her disappointment.

"What?! Does she know that possession of MDMA is a felony? And then you still drank it?" Ashley asked in a shocked voice.

"Well, I didn't know that she put that in there. I thought the whole glass was liquor and she was just trying to get me drunk to take advantage of me." Double D explained.

"I drank the whole glass. We talked for a bit, and suddenly I felt really hot. And she looked _way_ more attractive than she did 15 minutes ago. I mean, I was always slightly physically attracted to her because I thought she had a nice body; even though I would never show it. But the ecstasy multiplied that attraction a hundredfold. She arched her back to stretch and I couldn't take it anymore; I put my hands on her, and yeah…" Double D blushed slightly and hung his head.

"Augh! I'm so JEALOUS! I've haven't gotten to try it yet. I've heard about it, and heard that it is the best thing ever, but I could never get anyone to try it with." Ashley said as she squeezed a pillow in her arms.

"Well the next morning, I confronted her about it. She took me to the kitchen to show me what it was, but when she saw it, she was devastated. She had taken the pill out of a package of Rock Hard Weekend. She-" Double D's story was interrupted by Ashley bursting into laughter.

"I'm sorry. The name gets me every time. Please, continue" Ashley said after she composed herself.

"She told me she had intended to just slip the uh… stimulant into my drink as a gag; make some jokes about pitching a tent, let me feel up on her a little, and that would have been it. She never intended to slip me a hardcore drug like that. She was devastated. I felt terrible about confronting her like that because I felt like I made her cry by finding out what she really put in my drink. So I took the pill from the counter that led her to discover it was ecstasy and not… the other thing. And crushed up one for her to take with me. I look back now and I'm worried that she had all these pills there at the house, but at the time I didn't really care. I hated to see her sad. I told her I would rather be a druggie than see her cry. I kissed her and then we went into the living room…" Double D finished the story from where he was interrupted.

"You did it twice in less than 12 hours? One, do you know that's dangerous? And two, do you know how jealous I am? I almost wish you hadn't told me because I really want to try it now. But you're probably not trying that again, are you?" Ashley hit him with a slew of questions.

"Well…. I…." Double D began but was interrupted by Ashley half-tackling him.

"So you're considering it? I would love you forever!" Ashley blurted out before Double D could say anything coherent.

"I haven't even said anything yet." Double D tried to hold her off.

"You didn't say no, so that's what made me happy" Ashley chirped.

"You remind me of that girl I told you about with how relentless you are about some stuff. But you're the cute kind of relentless. You're a kitten playing with someone's sock. She is relentless like Attila the Hun. And yet, I've got feelings for Attila the Hun. Well, to be honest, I've started to have some feelings for you too, but she has been there since high school. She's not here now, I know, but she will come back. I know she will." Double D admitted.

"Well you said yourself you were never an actual couple. One time wouldn't hurt. And I promise to leave you alone about it afterwards." Ashley smiled.

"If you are able to leave me alone about it after one time, you did something wrong." Double D warned her.

"That's actually part of the reason she isn't here with me." Double D began to explain, but with an awkward pause after the first sentence.

"Oh… I…I'm sorry…" The cheery radiance drained out of Ashley's face.

"Wait, you said she will come back… what did you mean?" she asked.

"I meant I will see her again. I left because I wanted to take X again too much. It was too expensive and I didn't want to get too much into it and ruin my 4.0 GPA. I knew I had multiple scholarships to multiple colleges, so I didn't want to throw it all away. What did you think I was going to say?" Double D explained.

"Oh… you just made it sound like she died from it." Ashley pointed out.

"Her innocence died from it, but that's about it" Double D said under his breath, but Ashley heard it anyway.

"I heard that!" Ashley chirped.

"So she lost it on X? I'm even more jealous than before. She probably melted. If we ever do try it, you will probably have to put a pillow over my head so your neighbors don't call the cops on a bloody murder/noise complaint." Ashley admitted.

"So you're... You've never had a boyfriend?" Double D asked; he didn't worry about what the question was, he knew she would welcome him asking a question for once.  
"No, not really. Haven't really been looking either." Ashley said indifferently.  
"I'm honestly surprised you don't have one. You haven't even...?" Double D trailed off.  
"Should you decide to drop X with me, you will be my first" Ashley was not letting go of the X story.  
"Oh... No, your first time should be special. With someone you like. And probably not a goody-two-shoes like me." Double D tried to discourage her.  
"But it would be special. Because you're someone I like. And it would be special _because_ you're a goody-two-shoes. It would really mean something to me. I would be just another high enhancer for anyone one else I find." Ashley was starting to pull out the big guns.  
"I... I better go. I don't want you to do something you might regret. You need to think about this." Double D said as he tried to leave but Ashley denied his exit, holding him tighter.  
"Please don't go. I've had no one to talk to or be around these two years of college. You weren't really helping by just being a diary. Today is the first day I've actually felt like someone cares." Ashley was getting heavy, and not physically.  
"Let me try to call her. If she doesn't answer, then I'll stay. I know we weren't a couple but it would still feel weird for me." Double D gave her a neutral answer. He picked up his phone and dialed Marie's number.  
"We're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service." A robotic voice squawked.  
"Now I'm even more worried. I mean, I know it's been two years, and numbers change and all that, but why hasn't she called if she got a new number? I have to go see her." Double D said as he got up, unrestricted this time.  
"Do you want to come with me? I'd like you to meet her. I think she would be happy to see that I've come out of my shell enough to actually talk to people." Double D offered.  
"Oh, one of those shell types? You will have to tell me more about this later. But, yeah I guess. If it won't be too weird. It has been two years. It would be a bit weird if you just showed up with some random girl." Ashley wasn't sure whether to accept or not.  
"Well, I don't really want to go alone. What if it doesn't end well?" This was all Double D had to say to convince her. She got dressed for outside and they headed off to Marie's house.  
"Construction Zone?!" Double D exclaimed when they got to the mobile home park.  
"Her house is still here. I'm going in. I will try not to be long." Double D told his passenger. He got out of the car and walked up to the door. He knocked and waited several times with no answer each time. He walked around the house and saw that all the lights were off but Marie's window was still slightly cracked; and he could hear music playing very faintly.  
"Hey, come help me climb into the window." Double D asked Ashley to help him investigate this strange happening. They both walked up to Marie's window and Ashley helped him get up to it. It took some effort, but he was able to open the cracked window and climb in. The lights were off but the iPod was still going. Double D pulled out his cell phone for light. He paused the iPod and put it in his pocket. [She would never just leave her iPod somewhere.] He thought as he went into the living room. Nothing seemed to have moved. He looked in the refrigerator and saw the liquor bottle still sitting there.  
"I wonder..." Double D mumbled to himself as he opened the drawer under the counter near the sink. The packet of Rock Hard Weekend was still there; there was even two pills inside. He checked the pantry and took the Sharpstone from the shelf.  
"She even left her sketchbook..." He sighed as he went to Marie's room and picked up both of her sketchbooks and the box of colored pencils.  
"I guess this is goodbye..." He said as he felt his eyes tearing up. He handed the sketchbook and coloring pencils out the window, then climbed out himself. He closed the window and embraced Ashley.  
"She's gone. I don't know where but she's gone. But it wasn't of her own will." Double D sobbed. They walked around to the front of the house and saw the "Condemned" sign on the front door. This was the final nail in the coffin.  
"Can you drive?" Double D asked.  
"Y-yeah... Sure." Ashley replied; it made her sad to see him like this.

They got home and Double D just sat on the couch, staring at the sketchbooks.  
"I can't believe she's gone. Of all the times I thought I lost her, this time it's for real." Double D mumbled.

"I know you loved her a lot, but at least you don't have to deal with this loss alone. It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all. I know it's overused, but it is what it is." Ashley said in a comforting voice as she sat next to Double D and put her arm around him.

"She didn't even say goodbye. It's like she just vanished into thin air. And she's told me she feels just about the same about me as I do about her." Double D sighed.

"I haven't known her for as long as I've known you, but I almost feel like I didn't exist before I met her. She's shown me a lot about the world. She made me feel alive. Sure, I didn't like her method of doing things at the time, but now I would give anything to be roughed up and or pinned to a wall by her body. I know that sounds like I just miss her body, but that's not it at all. The only time that I physically showed her that I was attracted to her was when I was drunk or on drugs. I always got so shy and embarrassed when she even joked about getting undressed." Double D was barely able to keep his composure; he didn't want Ashley to see him like that because he knew it would upset her greatly.  
"I could probably rough you up and pin you to a wall if you want" Ashley blurted out but then blushed as soon as she heard herself say it.  
"I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. I don't know what came over me." She quickly apologized and hugged him tighter.  
"No, you're fine. You're just trying to help. She would do that too sometimes. We would be talking about something serious, and sometimes depressing, and she would make a random witty/dirty comment to lighten the mood." Double D assured her and remembered his conversations with Marie that always ended in him blushing because of her comments.  
"I... What do I do now?" Double D asked rhetorically.

"Be strong. I'm sure she wouldn't want to see you like this." Ashley assured him.

"Well, I'm going to go change into something more comfortable. Putting on actual clothes to meet guests is good and all, but we've known each other for two years now, so I'm sure you're not going to mind if I'm in sweatpants and a t-shirt." She added and went to her room. [I like Ashley, and I like how she does things at a slightly slower and less brutal pace, but I really can't see her replacing Marie.] Double D thought to himself as he continued to stare at the sketchbook. [I should look through her sketchbook. That's always taken my mind off of things.] He picked up the first sketchbook and started looking through it. [Where did she go? I know she said she went to go change, but that was almost 15 minutes ago.] He wondered; he knew it did not take that long just to change a pair of pants and a shirt. He got up and walked to Ashley's room; he heard some strange muffled noises when he got close to the door. He opened the door and saw what looked like a pile of dried, crushed leaves on a small coffee table, and a humming metal box with a hose coming out of it; there was a number display on the front that read "491°".

"Just what is that on the table? And don't say it's oregano." Double D demanded.

"Shut up and hit this." Ashley ignored his question.

"What is going on? I thought you said you were going to go change." Double D asked again.

"Quit asking questions and hit this. I'm not going to tell you again." Ashley commanded.

"I-I'm sorry! I'll be quiet." Double D cowered under her unusually stern tone. He took the hose from her hand and drew air through it.

"What was that about?" Double D asked after he coughed a couple of times. Ashley took a hit and passed the hose to him again without a word. Double D took a hit from it again; he didn't cough this time, and Ashley seemed to be smiling again. After Double D took a few more hits, she took the hose out of the box and tapped the rim of it on the table. She scooped the pile of crushed leaves into an ace of spades and tipped the card into the hose; she put the hose back in the opening on the metal box and hit some buttons, causing it to stop humming.

"This is a vaporizer. You should be feeling pretty awesome in a few minutes because that was some high grade real estate." Ashley finally answered Double D's question.

"Real estate? I just inhale a mortgage contract?" Double D asked in a worried voice.

"Marijuana. Pot. Weed. Mary Jane. Real estate is just one of the many names for it." Ashley explained. She hit a button on the vaporizer and it started humming again. After they finished that bowl, she coiled up the hose and put it in what looked like a cloth cube along with the vaporizer itself; she didn't want Double D or herself tripping over it or falling on it.

"So, you feeling better now?" She asked.

"Well, not too much different, but a little better." Double D replied. He stood up and didn't really feel much different, but a couple seconds later his vision started rapidly getting darker and he fell over onto Ashley.

"If you wanted to feel me up, you could have just asked. I wouldn't have mind" Ashley said in a flirty voice.

"Uh… sorry… I kind of lost my…balance…" Double D talked slowly but without stuttering; surprisingly, he wasn't blushing even though he was lying on top of Ashley.

"So you realize you're on top of me, right?" Ashley asked in case he didn't notice from the first hint.

"Yeah, but with all due respect, I really don't care." he mumbled.


	11. Chapter 11

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Double D woke up on Ashley's bed.  
"Hey, you're finally awake." Ashley greeted him when she walked in.  
"What happened?" Double D asked.  
"You tried to stand up and then fell on me. And then you passed out." Ashley told him.  
"I do feel better. Thank you. You probably kept me from doing something we would both later regret." Double D thanked her for making him sit down and smoke with her. For the first time in his life, he felt relaxed. [Why didn't I do this earlier? This would have helped a lot with Marie. And she probably would have been happier. And things wouldn't have gotten to where they are now...] he thought as he remembered all of the tension he had around Marie.  
"Hey, that's no mood to be in after smoking the finest green money can buy. Chin up!" Ashley chirped as she sat next to him. He felt safe when she was sitting next to him. There was no tension as there was with Marie.

"Sorry… just thinking about her again…" Double D sighed.

"You're not really doing yourself any good by only thinking about her absence. As much as it sucks that she left, you can't really do anything about it right now. So try to focus on your happier memories of her." Ashley comforted him.

"Also, you've got me here to keep you company. I would be happy to hear about your memories with her because she sounds like a really good person; aside from her questionable method of doing things." She added.

"Yeah, you're right. I am glad I've got you, at least" Double D turned towards Ashley and hugged her.

A month had passed by in a sea of tests, research papers, and writing projects. It was Thanksgiving Break again, but this time Double D was not hung over and looking through someone else's closet. He was zoning out while staring at Facebook when Ashley called him and pulled him out of his trance.  
"Hey, can I come over? I miss you. It's been a month since I've seen you." Ashley asked; Double D could tell from her voice that just asking that question was making her smile.  
"Yeah sure, I was actually about to call you." Double D lied; he wanted to call her, but he just couldn't make himself call first. The resilience of his shyness matched that of Kevlar vests. He was a lot better about it now than he was in high school, but it was still creating problems for him. He was looking through Marie's sketchbook when Ashley showed up.  
"Hey, how have you been? I've missed you so much!" She said as she hugged him tightly.  
"Oh, just school stuff. Glad to be done with it all, though." Double D said indifferently.  
"I missed you too." He said warmly. They sat down on the couch and Ashley noticed the open sketchbook on the table.  
"Oh wow, these are pretty nice. She is a pretty good artist." She said as she looked at some of the drawings.  
"I'm going to go get a drink." She told him and went to the kitchen. Double D heard a few cupboard doors open, and then a sudden silence.  
"Oooooooh! You'll never guess what I found!" Ashley's voice called from the kitchen after a few seconds of silence. He got up and went to see what the deal was; he was curious what she could find of interest in his parents' kitchen.  
"Did you save these for me?" Ashley asked and pointed at a packet of Rock Hard Weekend; it was the packet he brought from Marie's house.  
"I... Uh... I was actually going to get rid of them. I almost forgot I left those in there." Double D noticed he was stuttering a lot less, even though someone had just found illicit drugs in his kitchen; this would have normally paralyzed him with fear and embarrassment, but he was either more emotionally resilient or just didn't care about other people's perception of him.  
"Well, since they are still here, so obviously were going to use them eventually." Ashley said with a smirk.  
"Were you going planning to slip one into my drink one day and then take advantage of me?" She teased.  
"Uh... N-no... I wouldn't do that to you because I didn't enjoy it when she did it to me." Double D blushed slightly.  
"Oh, come on. I'm sure part of you wanted to. And I really wouldn't mind." Ashley teased in a flirty voice and winked at him.  
"Since it's here, and I'm here, you want to try it with me? It will get your mind off of her." Ashley asked.  
"I... I don't know... The effect it has on me kind of scares me." Part of Double D wanted to do it because it would make Ashley happy, but part of him didn't want to because of a loyalty to Marie even though they were never a couple.  
"Please? Since you brought it here from the mobile home, I think you were planning to use it at some point. You wouldn't take it from the mobile home just to throw it away somewhere else," Ashley was playing dirty; she was using logic.  
"I..." Double D began but ended with a heavy sigh.  
"I guess so. It is your birthday." Double D finally agreed. He opened the packet and noticed that there was one ecstasy pill and one actual Rock Hard Weekend pill. [I kind of scare myself on ecstasy so I'll just take the Rock Hard Weekend and she will never know the difference.] He thought as he tossed the pill into his mouth and got a glass of orange juice to wash it down with.  
"I don't want you to do it if you don't want to. You don't have to if you're only doing it for me." This was one of the things he loved about Ashley. She was very easy-going and never forced anything on him; the vaporizer being an exception, but he was eternally grateful for her doing so. She took her pill and then turned to Double D.  
"You sure you're ok with this? I mean, I can do it myself if you're not comfortable." Ashley asked him again.  
"No, it's fine. Really." Double D assured her.  
"Wait, what do you mean?" He asked, after his mind ran the second half of what she said by him.

"Well, like I told you, I've never actually been with a guy while on ecstasy. But if you weren't comfortable with it, I could... Take care of myself." Ashley explained while trying not to be blunt.  
"What? No, I-I wouldn't make you do that." Double D blushed and sounded a bit shocked that she would present an alternative like that. With Marie it would have been more along the lines of "you're going to unknowingly take this pill and then I'm going to have my way with you, and if you resist I will tie you to the bed." Ashley sometimes went out of her way to make sure Double D didn't feel uncomfortable, and that in itself sometimes made him feel uncomfortable; he didn't feel she should make such a fuss over him.  
[But if I did, would you watch?] She thought to herself. [Whoa, hey. You quit that. He's doing you a favor... By doing you. I'm sorry, it had to be said.] She tried to push the thought out of her mind only to have it replaced by relatively the same one.  
"I would feel a bit weird to do it right here in the living room. What if your parents come home in the middle of...?" Ashley trailed off.  
"My parents moved out. They don't even have the keys. But we can move to the bedroom if you're more comfortable with that. I was in what I felt was an unsafe environment so I didn't have the best trip. I want your first trip to be better." Double D calmed her fears of interlopers as they walked to his room.  
"I can't believe I'm actually at another guy's house. In his room." Ashley said in disbelief.  
"I can't believe I've actually got someone besides me in my room. And that someone is highly attractive too." Double D winked at her.  
"Oh... I..." Ashley blushed as she tried to talk.  
"You're going to feel really good in a few minutes" Double D assured her.  
"Ha. Déjà Vu, right? A month ago, you told me that same line." Double D added.  
"I told you a lot of things a month ago." Ashley winked at him.  
"I'm getting a little hot, so I'm going to turn on the fan." Double D got up and pulled the chain to start the fan but got the wrong one; light flooded the room and made Ashley fall over onto Double D's bed. He quickly pulled the chain again to turn off the light and then pulled the other one to turn the fan on.  
"Oh, blind me with the light and then hypnotize me with the hum of the ceiling fan so that I won't resist your advances? I wouldn't resist either way." Ashley teased after a few minutes of lying on the bed.  
"Try following one of the fan blades with your eyes. THAT is hypnotism." Double D suggested with a smirk.  
"Oh, cut the cloak and dagger already. You should already know my body is yours." Ashley sounded a little impatient.

"Yeah, I just..." Double D began in a slightly nervous voice, but stopped when he felt a wave of heat sweep down his spine.  
"Never noticed how much your curves make me want to rip that shirt off." He finished in a seductive tone.  
"Don't be too rough." Ashley said as she blushed slightly.

"I feel like jelly that's been through a mixer, but it was totally worth it. Thank you for doing this with me." Ashley mumbled to Double D when he woke up. [So she didn't notice that I just took the Rock Hard Weekend and not actual ecstasy. Good. That's one argument avoided] Double D thought, but thought too soon.

"You were unusually focused on me specifically. I was paying attention to every noise and sensation, in addition to the main attraction." Ashley pointed out.  
"I just decided to make the most out of the time I had. You're not always going to be that willing an accessible." Double D teased.  
"Yeah I am. I keep telling you that" she flirted back.  
"You didn't take it with me, did you?" Ashley said in a mildly accusing tone; she wasn't angry, just suspicious. Double D gave a heavy sigh.  
"No... I didn't. There was an ecstasy pill and a Rock Hard Weekend pill. I took the latter." Double D admitted; he was worried that Ashley didn't laugh at the name this time.  
"I'm sorry I lied to you. I... I just scare myself on it." He added.  
"I would have rather you told me, I would have understood. But it's ok." Ashley assured him and smiled. [But you still owe me] she thought to herself.

"The important part was for you to experience it, I already have previously." Double D turned the subject around.

"Yeah, I guess. But I don't think I could have ever gotten you to this point without making you smoke with me. I'm really not trying to be a bad influence, but had to come out of your shell eventually and conventional methods weren't working. Brute force isn't a conventional method, but it looks like it didn't work either since you were still so quiet and shy around me when I first met you. Then I introduced you to the world of real estate and here we are; in the same bed, with nothing but a sheet covering us." Ashley always seemed to find exactly the right words and put them in the right order at the right time to make Double D blush.

"I can barely see it now. When I first met you, I could have probably used you as a space heater." Ashley giggled.

"Well, if people around you do stuff just for a reaction enough times, you just stop giving a shit." Double D shrugged.

Double D got lost at sea again and didn't make landfall until Christmas break; with the added trouble from the kraken that was finals week. It was definitely a long month, but it was worth it; Ashley has been talking about his 21st birthday for almost a week, and that day was finally here. Double D wasn't much of a drinker, but he was curious to find out what all the buzz was about. Most of the day went by like any other day; Double D was starting to think Ashley was just trying to make him feel better and keep his mind off Marie.

"Hey, can you come over? It's time I gave you your present" Ashley sounded very excited when she called Double D. he got dressed up and headed over to her house.

"I'll be right out." Ashley called from her room as Double D sat down on the couch. Ashley looked like she was going mud wrestling when she came into the living room.

"She used to dress like that when I wouldn't respond to her dirty comments and coquettish requests." Double D remembered a few of the times Marie tried to get him to touch her on his own, and when nothing happened, she dressed in a way that left almost nothing to the imagination; he realized that he had been having dirty thoughts about Marie even back during high school, he just never really noticed it. He gave a heavy sigh and just stared at the floor.

"Hey! I can't have you sulking around like this on your birthday. Especially this one. Come on! It's time to watch sports, drink beer, and throw money at strippers." Ashley chirped.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Double D asked in a confused tone.

"We're going to a strip club. Hence the beer, sports and strippers. You need a dose of all three, in my opinion. I honestly wouldn't mind some beer and strippers myself." Ashley explained.

"Wait, how is being around multiple naked women supposed to help me?" Double D asked. Marie covered her face with her palm.  
"You did not just ask that question. As a straight single male." Ashley grumbled.  
"Whatever. We are going." She added. She grabbed his hand and they were off.  
"You, this is actually not too bad. Although it helps that the liquor here doesn't taste like it's been used for other things besides drinking." Double D admitted once they had walked in and Ashley had bought him a glass of beer. Ashley went off to look at some of the stages so Double D sat at a table in front of the closest one. The music started playing, the girl came out and started dancing, and Double D slowly sipped his beer. [She is actually kind of hot. Maybe this isn't so bad. Never really thought I would enjoy looking at random naked women, yet here I am...] Double D thought as he watched the girl dance. It was all going good until she came up to the edge of the stage to accept a tip from one of the other patrons; Double D spewed his drink all over the table when he recognized the dancer.  
"Sarah? Is that you?" Double D asked the dancer.  
"Edd! What the hell?! Did my brother send you here?" Sarah screeched as she usually does.  
" Hardly. Your brother barely has enough brains to tell a fly from a crowbar." Double D scoffed.  
"Don't you dare go running off telling my parents like you did everything else." She commanded.  
"And ruin the show I'm getting?" Double D teased. He started walking to one of the other stages and stopped at one of the standing tables along the way. [Ugh, I feel kind of gross. That was Ed's sister. I mean, she was kind of hot, but I may also be a bit drunk.] He thought as he leaned on the table.  
"Hey, that's no face to have at a strip bar. Unless you're gay" a familiar voice called. Double D turned to look who it was and felt even sicker when he saw who it was.  
"Dad? What are you..." Double D trailed off.  
"Uh... It's stuff for work..." His dad said nervously.  
"In not 8 anymore, dad. I'm not stupid." Double D gave an annoyed sigh.  
"Alright...fine... I originally brought this money to spend on strippers, but you can have it if you don't tell mom." His dad offered Double D a bribe for his silence.  
"Don't tell mom what?" Another familiar voice called.  
"Mom! You're the last person I expected to see here. "Double D said in shock.  
"Yeah... Well, your dad was getting tired of seeing the same routine in the bedroom, so he went to go window shopping, and I went to get new ideas for stuff to do." His mom explained.  
"Well, you have fun with that." Double D said in an awkward tone and quickly walked off to find Ashley.

"Hey, you having a good time so far?" Ashley asked when she saw him.

"I saw my parents here and they started talking about rekindling their bedroom life." Double D told her about the "fun" he was having.

"Oh. Um…I…I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that. We can go if you want." Ashley offered awkwardly. They decided it was best to go ahead and leave because they originally came here to better Double D's mood; his parents had other plans.

"Hey! You're coming with me to this Christmas party I just got invited to! It will be fun, trust me. And I promise your parents won't be there." Ashley called talked pretty fast and hung up before Double D could say anything.

"I guess I should at least go talk to her…" Double D mumbled to himself as he walked out the door to go to her house.

"I'm glad you decided to come with me. I noticed I didn't give you time to think about it, but you will thank me later." Ashley said as she pulled him into her apartment.

"Oh, these clothes won't do. I've got something that will help you fit in a bit more." Ashley said excitedly as she threw Double D's arms up and took his shirt off in seemingly one fluid motion. She turned to her closet and turned back towards Double D almost without stopping and put a hoodie on him the same way a hunter throws a bag over a small animal. Double D shuffled around inside the hoodie for a bit and finally slid his arms through the sleeves. She pushed him onto her bed and somehow managed to get his pants off as he was falling. She handed him some black pants with chains and a hammer loop on one of the sides.

"Now _that's_ how you dress for a college Christmas party. At least, that's how I would dress for this one." Ashley smiled and walked to the living room to put on her shoes.

"Come on! You don't want to be late!" She called from the living room. Double D put on the pants she had tossed on him and walked into the living room.

"Quit standing around and put your shoes on! We have 5 minutes to get there!" She chirped and disappeared out the door.

"Kind of a lot of people here. You know that I'm not very social." Double D said when he walked into the party with Ashley.

"There is a first time for everything!" Ashley teased him and went to talk to people he assumed were her classmates. Double D walked over to the food and drink table to get himself a beer and sit down on the couch.

All of the voices at the party started to melt into one dull buzz. Double D had finished his beer and was starting to slip into a light trance; he had grabbed a 12-point beer without looking at the label and was now paying the price.

"Double D! Is it really you? When did you get so…" Double D heard a voice pierce through the din of the party, followed by a falling body that locked lips with him upon contact. He felt a female hand grab his and slide it down her pants. Double D's muffled sounds of protest stood out like a death metal vocalist at an opera.

"And you said you weren't going to have fun!" He heard Ashley's teasing voice commenting on the scene in front of her.

"It's not what it looks like! I was just drinking a be-" Double D turned away from Nazz slightly to explain what happened but Nazz turned him back towards her and continued what she was doing.

"It's ok, Double D. I saw everything." Ashley said with a smile and walked off.

"We got caught, didn't we?" Nazz asked him while blushing.

"I…" Double D was at a loss for words.

"I better go…" Nazz mumbled and slowly slid off the couch; Double D finally noticed the smell of alcohol coming from her so he did what Marie and Ashley have always done for him when he passed out.

"Ashley, I-" Double D began when he found her, but she just hugged him and didn't say anything.

"It's ok, Double D. did you have a good time? You're cute when you get embarrassed about me walking in on you with another girl. We aren't together, you know. You're free to see what's on the table. Or the couch, in your case." Ashley teased him.

"I can't get mad at you for that, anyway. Me and Kevin kind of made out…" Ashley admitted as she blushed; Double D noticed her pants were unzipped and her lipstick was slightly smeared.

"You're fine. He did what I usually cant without being intoxicated in some way." Double D assured her.

"You're kind of slurring a bit. Let's get you home and have some fun of our own." Ashley winked at him; she was slightly disappointed when she got home, however, as Double D passed out after taking only a couple steps into her apartment.

Double D sat in the living room of Ashley's apartment, his mind wrestling with the fact that he might lose contact with Ashley again because of schoolwork. It was unfair. He liked his classes and his time with Ashley just about equally, but he knew that the two always clashed. Ashley had no problem with Double D taking time to do his homework first, but his homework seemed to have a problem with him taking time to see Ashley; every time he finished a major assignment or a moderate cluster of small assignments, more assignments popped up like hydra heads. [This silence is not helping me. Ashley has mentioned Periphery several times, so I'll give them a try.] He thought as he picked up Ashley's iPod off the coffee table and plugged his headphones in.

[Hm, it's a bit hard to think with this music go-…hey, that's perfect!] He thought after getting a few seconds into the first song. He kept listening to the album; some of the songs reminded him of his past experiences.

"It starts as one festering feeling, the kind that cuts from the flesh down to the soul" Mile Zero had gotten to the vocals and surprised Double D with how accurately it described the feeling he got when he thought about Marie; as of recently, anyway. [Wow, how did I not find them sooner? I couldn't have said it better myself.] He thought as a swarm of butterflies filled his stomach.

"Life is ruthless and shot full of pain. It lifts you up, leaves you out in the rain, and it hurts just to know that you're not coming back again.

I will miss you my friend.

Memories like a slug to the brain, paint the walls with a love that will stain the darkest of nights.  
You left to join the stars and I cannot shake this off my chest." The chorus hit him the hardest. An image of Marie's face dominated his mind during the scream of "I will miss you my friend".

"Fuckin' hell!" Double D blurted out and briskly walked to Ashley's room.

"Load a bowl, my mind won't leave me alone." Double D said as he took the vaporizer out of the closet and plugged it in.

"What temperature do I set this to?" he turned to Ashley and asked her; she looked oddly uncomfortable. [Does he not see that I'm….busy? My shirt is off, my hand is in my unbuttoned pants, and he's asking me about the vaporizer temperature? What kind of drugs did I take last night that I'm having this dream?] Ashley thought as she sat on her bed, paralyzed with embarrassment.

"I'm just going to set it to the maximum temperature and go from there." He mumbled and turned to the cloth box that held all of the other smoking accessories. After a few seconds of silence, Ashley heard the sound of the grinder being twisted repeatedly. He emptied the grinder into the same folded ace of spades as last time, and then tilted the card into the hose. The temperature had just reached 496, so he plugged in the hose and took a hit; he turned to Ashley after he exhaled and offered her the hose.

"Hey, it's your hit." He said as he held out the hose towards her; Ashley gave no response and just continued to sit statue still.

"Alright, your call." Double D shrugged and continued smoking alone. He took a few more hits and turned it off.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt. You should have said something." Double D finally noticed why Ashley looked uncomfortable.

"Really? Like what? Hey I'm ma-mmmph!" Ashley began in a sarcastic tone but was quieted by Double D's lips. Ashley blushed at this kind of sudden advance. Double D was never a man of action, yet here he was in her mouth; she kept waiting for her alarm to go off and wake her up, but it never did. She wasn't sure yet how she would react to a more open and bold Double D.

"Double D, I…" Ashley trailed off.

"It's ok. You were thinking about it. And I like turning thoughts into actions." Double D assured her and smiled.


	12. Chapter 12

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Double D was woken up by his phone ringing. He answered it without looking because it could only be one of two people.

"Hello?" he said in a sleepy tone.

"Hey, Double D! I've missed you so much! Sorry I didn't call until now. Why did you stop talking to me after high school?" Marie asked him.

"Marie! Oh, I'm so glad to hear from you, you have no idea! Sorry I got busy with college. What have you been up to? We've got to meet somewhere." Double D sounded fully awake in a matter of seconds.

"We can meet by that café near the university. You know where that is?" Marie asked him.

"Yeah. I go to that university for classes now, actually. Well, I'll see you in a few minutes." Double D replied and walked out into the living room.

"Hey, that girl I told you about just called! We are meeting her at the Peach Creek Café!" Double D announced excitedly. They both got into Double D's car and drove to the meeting place; Double D was talking about Marie the whole ride there.

"She should be here any minute" He said when they pulled into the parking lot but didn't see anyone. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a car showed up and parked; it didn't park next to them, which Double D found a little weird.

"Marie! It's so good to see you again! You have no idea how much I missed you!" Double D chirped as he hugged her tightly. Ashley turned around to see what this girl Double D talked about so much looked like and was slightly disturbed to see Double D standing in an empty parking space, hugging himself.

"Double D…I don't see anyone." She said as she walked over to him.

"But she's right-" Double D was about to point to her when he noticed Marie was gone; there was no sign of the car either, but he didn't hear it turn on and/or leave.

"Here….." Double D finished dejectedly.

"Marie hasn't been in Peach Creek since freshman year…" Ashley told him.

"What do you mean?" Double D asked; did she know Marie? She never mentioned this before. Things where starting to get really weird.

"I…I'm sorry…I haven't been completely honest with you… I'm her sister… May…" Ashley dropped the bomb she has been holding for so long.

"I… I just didn't want our past history to interfere with making new history. I wanted someone to talk to and you looked like you wanted the same. I will understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore, although I will be very sad if you do choose to leave." She added.

"No! I would never leave you! I've enjoyed being with you way too much to just throw it away now. But it would have been nice if you just told me. I've got a previous history with Marie and we didn't fully get along in middle school; we still don't see eye to eye, but I still became close friends with her." Double D wasn't fully realizing the size of the problem May just discovered.

"You didn't see eye to eye with her because you never saw her past middle school." May reminded him that his perception of Marie was just a hallucination.

"But she called me a few minutes ago! I'll show you my phone!" Double D protested and pulled out his phone.  
"It says the last person to call you was me. In fact, I only see 5 total calls to or from the phone, and they are all me." May told him as she looked at the phone. Double D looked at his phone and sure enough, there was only 3 incoming calls; all of them from May. Double D was devastated. Did he really just imagine the whole meeting? Including the phone call? He couldn't have. Only crazy people do that, and they live in mental asylums.  
"So, where is Marie, then?" Double D asked.  
"Her mom and her moved out of town during at the beginning of freshman year. I really wanted to stay here because I had made some good friends, so I was left with a friend of the family. I later got a job and moved out. All of my friends from high school went to out-of-state colleges so I was left alone." May recalled her high school life.  
"I... Let's...go home." Double D stuttered; finding out Ashley was really May under an assumed name was too much for him to process right now, after finding out he had imagined the whole meeting with Marie. When they went home, May drove because Double D didn't trust himself to after this development.  
"I'm sorry, Double D. If I had known sooner that Marie was the girl you were talking about, I would have told you." May said as they walked into her apartment. Double D went to lie down on the couch and picked up May's iPod; if this was an illusion too, at least it still kept going. He put his headphones on and hit shuffle; in a few moments he was greeted by Ozzy Osbourne's "All aboooooard! Ha ha ha ha!" [Because this is _exactly_ what I need to hear right now...] Double D thought sarcastically, but didn't change the song.  
"You may be on the crazy train, but at least you've got me as a stewardess." Marie teased him.  
"Marie! I missed you at the cafe! What happened?" Double D had a burst of desperation and forgot that she was not real. May came into the room and again saw no one but Double D.  
"She's gone Double D. I know you loved her a lot, but she's been gone since freshman year." May tried to pull him back to reality.  
"Load a bowl then, if I'm going to be seeing people that aren't there, I at least want to have an excuse." Double D grumbled.  
"But it's not a hallucinogen..." May told him.  
"Just do it! It doesn't matter." Double D commanded. May sighed and went to start up the vaporizer; Double D joined her about 10 minutes later.  
"Soon, I won't care about any of this." He said as he passed the hose to May.

The hum of the ceiling fan sounded like the background beat to a techno track as Double D sat on the floor swaying back and forth slightly. May provided the drop by closing the blinds; it was time to go to bed soon.  
"I think you should sleep here tonight. In my bed. So I can keep an eye on you." May suggested.  
"Among other things" she added teasingly; she wasn't actually going to try anything, but she thought she would try to at least make him laugh.  
"Yeah, just put on your Marie outfit and we are good to go. Oh wait... That's my job." Double D teased her back. They got into bed and were about to fall asleep when Double D had a visitor.  
"Room for one more? It could be one tasty sandwich" Marie teased.  
"Marie! That's your sister, what the hell?" Double D protested.  
"Go to sleep, Double D. She's not real." May reached behind her to pull him closer to her but her hand landed on a surprise for both of them. The image of Marie vanished instantly as Double D exhaled hard.  
"Oh, sorry!" May yelped and pulled back her hand.  
"Even though we've done X together and it lead us way past this, that was still highly embarrassing." May mumbled to herself.  
"I appreciate your efforts, May. She actually disappeared when you did that." Double D assured her she did nothing wrong.  
"Allow me to return the favor, even though you may not be having the same problems I am." he mumbled as his hand crept over her body.

The next morning in class, he saw someone new in class. He didn't pay much attention to them, however, because he hallucinated one person already; what was one more? He sat down at his desk and pushed her out of his mind.

At the end of class, as they waited for people to file through the door to leave, Double D was approached by the girl he noticed at the beginning of class.

"Take my money, just stay away from me!" she said in a terrified, quivering voice.

"I-I'm sorry… I don't think we've met." Double D was caught completely off guard by the sudden emotional intensity of the girl.

"We've more than met!" she raised her voice slightly and threw her wallet at him; before he could pick it up, she vanished into the crowd. Double D picked up the wallet and went home; everyone was staring at him as he left the classroom. [Well, at least she was real.] Double D thought as he sat down at his computer.

He got an email in the evening from a "Kaylee Hartfelt".

"Meet me in the university café in 20 minutes. We need to talk" Double D immediately forwarded this email to May; he was not taking chances on phantom emails this time.

"Wow, lady-killin already? You recovered fast :D" May wrote back. Double D was out the door and at May's house within a few minutes.

"Will you come with me to this meeting? I need someone I can trust and that I know is real to verify whatever they tell me." Double D asked her when he walked into her apartment.

"Yeah, sure. Any idea who it is?" May asked; Double D was still not a very social person, so it was still unusual for him to just get a random invite to meet up somewhere.

They got to the café and sat down; sure enough, the girl showed up a few minutes after they got there.

"I wanted to give you this back in class but you ran off before I could do anything." Double D said as he handed the girl her wallet.

"You may not know my name, but you know me way more _deeply_ than you think. I am Kaylee." Kaylee didn't sound very friendly.

"I'm Edd, but most people call me Double D" Double D introduced himself.

"I used to live in the mobile home park near the cul-de-sac." Kaylee told him to try to jog his memory.

"I first met you when you walked into my house and acted like you were carrying in groceries. I was on the phone at the time and you weren't really doing anything bad, so I decided to just let you do your thing. Then you disappeared for a couple days. Then you came back and filled half of my sketchbook with half-naked angels and you running from them." Kaylee began recalling her memories of Double D.

"Then came Thanksgiving Break…the first of several disturbing days…" Kaylee said in a terrified voice.

"You drove up to my house and dragged yourself up to my door. You managed to jimmy open the lock on the door, then ran back to your car and threw yourself on the hood. Finally you came in and threw yourself on the couch; you took your socks off and tied your hands and feet together. You talked to yourself for a few minutes and then untied yourself. I decided to leave you alone and go change out of my school clothes. That's when you walked in. At least you realized what happened and apologized. Some other stuff happened that didn't directly involve me, but then when I went to bed, you climbed in with me. I was too terrified to push you out so I just let you sleep. The next day you went to take a shower, came out naked when you were done and walked into my room, took a pair of underwear out of the dresser and went back in to dry yourself off. Then you came out wearing nothing but the underwear. The weekend after that, you poured yourself a glass of liquor and Pepsi, and then filled a shot glass liquor. You drank your glass and then asked me why I haven't drank mine; you accused me of putting something in your drink. I didn't want to argue so I drank the shot. You said something about my body straining against my shirt and then took it off. Again, I didn't argue. I didn't want to know what would happen if I resisted. I wasn't sure whether you were sleepwalking or just crazy. You talked a bit more and then you said something about wanting to see 'the real Kanker sisters'; whatever that means. At that point you reached behind me and unhooked my bra. I blushed, I was embarrassed, I was angry, I was scared. This mix of emotions paralyzed me. Then you left me alone for a few minutes and I was able to move again. I started getting ready for bed so I went to lower the blinds and that is when you prodded me in the back and said 'I don't have a gun, but that doesn't make this any less of a stick-up.'. You turned me around, gently, and made out with me for a few seconds. Then you took off my pants and…" Kaylee trailed off.

"The next morning, you came out into the kitchen and was ranting about me putting something in your drink; you weren't dressed. Then you took two x-tabs from the kitchen counter drawer and ate one. Yes, I do ecstasy occasionally. I take it so I can fully forget about everything as I'm pleasuring myself. I don't have a boyfriend so what do you expect me to do? Anyway, so then you crushed up the other one and mixed it into a glass of orange juice and then gave it to me. You asked me several times if I was coming with you. You sounded like you were going to kill me if I didn't join you so I drank it and followed you to my room. We talked for a bit and then the pills took effect. Since I was already naked from the night before, you didn't waste any time…" Kaylee said in a quivering voice.

"Yes. You just heard all of that. You know, under your shy exterior, you're one seriously disturbed motherfucker." May shared her thoughts.

"I think you know where you need to take me now." Double D sighed.

"Thank you for your time, Kaylee. I hope you have a better life now that I will be permanently out of it. I'm sorry for all of the trouble I have caused you." Double D apologized. Double D got up and walked to the car; he had really hoped this was another delusion, but had no such luck this time. May got into the driver's seat and started the car.


	13. Chapter 13

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

"Welcome to where time stands still, no one leaves and no one will, moon is full, never seems to change, just labeled mentally deranged" the radio came on with the perfect song to play Double D off the stage. [Sanitarium… Well played, Metallica… Well played.] Double D thought to himself and smiled.

They got to the mental asylum and got Double D booked in; this would be the last time he saw the outside world.

"May, thank you for all that you have done for me. I will miss you dearly. I'm sorry you had to witness that whole bit with Kaylee. I will understand if you don't come visit." Double D said as he hugged her for the last time.

"You may be a disturbed motherfucker, but you're _my_ disturbed motherfucker. Of course I'll come visit you." May said warmly as she hugged him back. She kissed him and said goodbye; she left quickly so she didn't have to deal with the pain of seeing the attendant lead him away.

"Hey, am I going to get any medications prescribed to me? Chances are I've already taken some of them illegally thanks to the Beleren Pharmaceuticals spill." Double D asked the nurse when she led him to his room.

"Personally, I don't think you need any more. I'm sure they are partially responsible for why you are here in the first place. But I'm just a nurse here, so I don't make the decisions." She shared her opinion with Double D.

"Well, here we are. Welcome home." The nurse told him as she opened the door to his room.

"Funny, the radio played 'Sanitarium' by Metallica on the way here." Double D said as he remembered the car ride.

"You're going to fit in well around here." The nurse smiled and locked the door behind Double D.

"Well, I guess I can say that…" Double D made a motion with his hand as if he's putting on sunglasses.

"…women drove me crazy. YEEEEEAAAAAH!" Double D was trying his best to remain positive about his grim situation.

"You drove _me_ crazy by being such a prude who froze up at even the mention of naked women." Marie grumbled.

"NO! You're not real! Leave me alone! You've already driven me into the insane asylum. What else do you want?" Double D shouted.

"Technically, May drove you to the insane asylum. Because she didn't trust you to drive." Marie teased.

"Ha! You weren't in the car with us, so how would you know? I'll tell you. Because I know. I'm onto you." Double D exclaimed.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. Since you're not real, I'm not bound by society's laws." Double D added with a devious smirk. He pounced on Marie and pinned her hands above her head.

"Double D! What ar-mmmph!" Marie started to protest but was muffled by Double D locking his lips with hers.

"No. Just no. this guy can do without the welcome speech. I don't even _want_ to know what his problem is." The head nurse said as she watched Double D pounce on the wall and start making out with it. Double D didn't even notice there was someone at the door as he took Marie's shirt off.

"Double D, you lunatic! What's gotten into you?!" Marie shouted as she blushed.

"Ok, this is my queue to leave." The head nurse exhaled sharply and walked off after seeing Double D take off his shirt and toss it on the bed.

"What's wrong? Isn't this what you wanted?" Double D teased.

"I wanted you to be more open with me, but not like this. I realized I liked it more when you were shy and I had some control over you." Marie admitted timidly.

"Well, it's like you said; the ball is in my court now." Double D jeered. He slid his hand into her pants and continued to kiss her passionately.

It's been almost a year since Double D checked in, and the visions seemed like they only got worse.

"Hey, it's time for your walk." Marie called to him.

"Hey, it's time for your daily dose of the Double D." Double D jeered.

"I'm not joking around, let's go." Marie called again; she was getting slightly impatient.

"Well, that's too bad because I am. Or am I _jerking_ around? Only one way to find out" Double D cackled.

"Don't make me come in there!" Marie threatened.

"Oh ho ho! That's what I said to your mouth last night!" Double D laughed maniacally.

"That's it!" Marie shouted and walked into the room.

"Oh, that's nice, Marie. Pretend you're one of the nurses that work here. Very funny. What are you getting out of this exactly?" Double D scoffed when he saw her walk up to him.

"Hey, I don't need you to tell me what to do." Double D heard Marie's voice behind him; he turned around and saw Marie sitting on his bed.

"Oh, that's just great. You brought a friend. Who looks exactly like you. Going for the full nine yards, are we?" Double D grumbled sarcastically as he threw up his arms.

"Damn it, Double D! Quit making this harder than it has to be!" Marie slapped him in a burst of frustration.

"Hey, is everything alright in there?" a voice called from outside the room.

"Yeah… he thought I was someone else and hit me. But it's ok, it didn't really hurt." Marie called back.

"Hey! I don't care who you, are you DO NOT hit a woman! Ever!" another nurse shouted as she came into the room.

"You stay out of this, whitecoat! This is between me and my brainchild. Ha ha." Double D shouted.

"Marie is not your 'brainchild' or whatever. She is a real person and I will NOT see her treated in such a horrible manner!" The other nurse sounded very threatening. Double D paused for a bit.  
"Marie? Is it really you?" Double D asked, feeling like he's talking to himself.  
"Yes. It is. Now could we get going?" Marie gave an annoyed sigh. Double D started walking towards the door. [She must be real. They wouldn't have opened the door otherwise. Or I'll just bump into the door any minute now.] Double D thought as Marie followed him.  
"Wow, so you're finally real. I'm not going to wake up in my bed in a few minutes am I?" Double D asked.  
"Yes. I'm real. Is it that hard to believe?" Marie grumbled.  
"I've had an imaginary you that I had a life with before I came here. I don't know, you tell me." Double D scoffed in reply.  
"I'll prove that I am real, then." Marie said in a determined tone.  
Marie had asked them to release Double D into her care.  
"Hey, I've got my own house now. In fact, I got it as a because of my imaginary friend." Double D told Marie as they walked to her car.

"Whoa hey, I just met you in an insane asylum five minutes ago. I'm not going to move just yet. You might tie me up and force yourself on me. "Marie let him know right off that living under one roof was out of the question at this time.  
"I'd actually kind of enjoy that." Marie winked at him. Double D blushed slightly.  
"Still the same Double D I left in middle school I see." She added.  
"Well, not quite. My past experiences have brutally forced me out of my shell." Double said in a slightly proud voice.

"A lot of my delusions of you got pretty um…dirty…" Double D admitted in a shy voice and turned a deeper shade of red.

"Put it back in your pants. We haven't even left the parking lot of the insane asylum." Marie turned out to be completely different from what he imagined. It didn't matter to Double D, however, because he was glad to finally get out of the four walls he has been trapped in for a year. Now that he was under Marie's care, things would be slowly getting back to normal.

"I just remembered I got to call May. Can I have my phone?" Double D asked.

"May? How do you know my sister? If you did anything to her, so help me God, I'll…" the car swerved a little as Marie growled.

"Don't hurt me! We didn't do anything!" Double D yelped. The rest of the car ride was quiet; when they got to Marie's house, she locked him in the spare bedroom and walked off to her room.

About a month passed by, and life didn't really feel much different than the asylum; there were no bars on the window, but he was still not allowed to go anywhere. He could physically leave at any time, but he stayed out of respect for Marie; until now. [I like her, I really do, but I just can't stay cooped up like this anymore. This isn't much different than the asylum. I've stopped having hallucinations a while ago, so I don't think I need to be confined like this anymore.] He thought as he opened the bedroom door. [Wait, why is it unlocked?] Double D noticed that his bedroom door was actually unlocked for once. He took it as a gift from fate and quietly snuck out of the house. He had only taken a few steps when he got outside before he was blindsided by someone.

"How does it feel to have me on top of you for the first time?" Marie teased.

"This kind of roughness isn't necessary, Marie. I'm not having my visions anymore." Double D said in a strained voice.

"But they weren't completely useless. They taught me how to escape from various holds." Double D added. Before Marie could say anything, she felt him move around under her and then suddenly she found herself under him. Double D lightly propped himself on her chest with his arms, making her blush.

"Uh…I…" Marie mumbled timidly; Double D noticed she was breathing slightly irregularly.

"I'm not actually going to do anything. I just wanted to show you that I'm not completely helpless anymore like I was when you last saw me." Double D assured her and stood up to brush the dead grass off of himself.

"Damn it, don't scare me like that!" Marie shouted and shoved him to the ground.

"What was there to be scared of? You know I wouldn't have done anything." Double D asked her.

"You flipped me over and groped me! The last time I saw you, you froze at the mere sight of me. If I actually sat on you back then, you would have a heart attack. You were hallucinating for 4 years total. I wouldn't put _anything_ past you anymore." Marie sounded distraught. Double D stood up again and gently embraced Marie.

"I may have gotten a lot braver over the years, but that doesn't mean I would do anything to hurt you." Double D said in a calm voice.

"Well, I am going to go check on my house. I haven't been to it in a little over a year." Double D started to walk to the driveway.

"How are you going to get there? I hope you're not planning to walk." Marie asked him; she drove Double D to her apartment from the asylum, so he had nothing but the clothes on his back.

"Oh. Right. I'm going to call May. I gave her the car when I checked in." Double D reached for his phone to call May; he wasn't sure how she would react to him calling after all this time.

"Double D? Is that you?" May was surprised to see his number on her caller ID after bringing him to the asylum herself.

"Yeah. How have you been? I've missed you so much. I might be coming to visit soon." Double D was smiling from ear to ear from hearing her voice again.

"I'll be waiting. Just make sure you remember to imagine clothes for me." May teased; she had no idea that he was out in the world again.

"Marie, would you come with me when I go to May's house? She doesn't know I'm out yet. You're her sister so I'm hoping you will help keep her stable." Double D asked her to join him.

"I'm not sure I trust you alone with her anyway, so why not?" Marie agreed.

When they got to May's house and were walking down the sidewalk to her apartment building, Double D couldn't help but feel that he was dreaming; he waited for the nurse to wake him up after every step he took. They finally got to the apartment and knocked on the door.

"Double D! Wha….what are you doing here? Marie? I…" May was shocked to see both of them standing in front of her.

"You will never guess who I met at work." Marie joked.

"You work in a mental hospital?" May asked.

"Yeah, crazy I know." Marie said with a smirk.

"Double D! You're finally out? Or… what's going on?" May was still unsure about how Double D got to her apartment.

"Well, I went into get him for his daily walk, we had a mini argument, and then they released him into my care." Marie gave May the basics of how Double D ended up standing before her again.

"I'm glad to have you back, Double D." May smiled and hugged him.

"Ok, lovebirds, inside" Marie grumbled and walked into the apartment.

"You sound a bit jealous of my relationship with Double D. It's not like we are a couple or anything." May teased as she looked at Marie.

"He is mine and I don't appreciate you fawning over him like that." Marie said as she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, she's done more than fawn over me." Double D blurted out without thinking. Marie got up to pounce on Double D but was restrained by May.

"Marie! Calm down! Let me explain!" May tried to calm her.

"He told me about how he tried ecstasy with you, or delusion of you, and how you and him…. So I got really jealous because I've never gotten that chance. So for my birthday he brought me an x-tab and yeah…." May explained.

"I see… well, you clearly like May better, so I'll just leave you two alone. I'll be back later." Marie sighed and started to walk to the door.

"No, you can't leave!" Double D protested and hugged her from behind.

"You just weren't around to like, so I started talking to her. But beyond that, you weren't there to like so I willed you into existence so that you _would_ be there in some way. I think that says a lot about my feelings for you." Double D tried to put things into perspective.

"Then why did you blush, freeze, or run any time I came within even 10 feet of you when I _was_ here?" Marie asked; she sounded unconvinced by Double D's admission.

"It was middle school! I did that with every girl that came up to me. Nazz had kind of a thing for me too, or made it seem like it, and I did the same thing when she got near me." Double D explained.

"Since then, Nazz has pounced on him at a Christmas party and gave him quite the lip service." May teased; that memory always brought a smile to her face just because it happened to Double D of all people.

"Looks like you've got plenty of women at and on your fingertips; you don't even need me." Marie said dismissively and broke free of Double D's embrace.

"It literally drove me crazy that I didn't have you with me. Don't you get it?" Double D reminded her of how they met; he immediately reformed his hold but his hands landed somewhere else this time.

"Eep! Would you quit it? I-I'm trying to be serious!" Marie squeaked as she blushed; Double D promptly moved his hands.

"See? That is exactly what I'm talking about. I make one uncomfortable noise, or one dirty comment, and you're all aflutter." Marie grumbled, trying to draw attention away from the squeak that escaped her mouth.

"I'll bet you're not like this with May. You are probably making her feel bad by being all over me right now." She added.

"Actually, Double D has yet to touch me when he's sober. He blushes at my dirty comments too." May corrected her.

"Just give him a chance. He's been imagining being with you for three years; this is the least you could do. I think you would make a cute couple." May encouraged. May wanted Double D to be happy; he was always happy to see her, but she knew he would be happier with Marie.  
"Double D was away from me for a year and yet he didn't have delusions of me walking around his room." May pointed out.  
"He talked about you all the time. Even during our...intimate time. Which was kind of awkward. I think he even called your name out once." May added.  
"Made me kind of sad that he was thinking about someone else while with me." May sighed.  
"Now, don't you start! I'm only one person!" Double D exclaimed.  
"Yeah, he can only grab one pair of boobs at a time." Marie teased him. Double D decided he wasn't going to just take this jab laying down, so he purposely felt her up; his burst of bravery made Marie squeak like last time.  
"You're brave, g-grabbing me like that in front of your lover." Marie tried to sound tough but came out half-timid: her reddish face wasn't helping her look tough either.  
"Is he going to have to tie you up and show you a good time before you finally accept him? We aren't lovers. I've seen him with his hand in another girl's pants, so seeing him grab you through your clothes is nothing. He clearly likes you more than me so I don't understand why you're so jealous of me." May sounded frustrated. Marie sighed and stopped struggling against Double D's hold.  
"I just wanted to see that he cares. I've had a lot of people tell me they cared but they all ended up being liars. I wanted undeniable proof this time." Marie admitted why she was pushing Double D away so strongly.  
"Let me show you how much I care. Move in with me. It will be just like I imagined, but this time you will actually be there." Double D suggested.

"Even if I wanted to, you're still under a 90-day 'psychological observation' period; a guy will be coming by later today to record my observations and comments. At the end of the 90 days, they will determine whether you need further treatment, further observation, or discharge from the facility." Marie gave him a professional-sounding answer.

"And I want to be at my house in case you randomly decide to hide; at least I will know where to look." She added. Double D couldn't tell whether she actually accepted or not, but he didn't care; she sounded like she was considering it and that is all that mattered.


	14. Chapter 14

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Double D sat on the bed in his room, thinking about the future; everything was finally falling into place. After these 3 months passed, he would move back to his house with Marie and finally have the life he thought he had before May broke his illusion. Although he was devastated when he found out he had hallucinated Marie into his life and she was not actually there, he was happy that May pulled him back to reality; he didn't want to think about who else he would have involved in his delusion, had it continued. Double D was slowly drifting off into a day-dream when there was a knock at the door.

"Hey, the counselor is here. Get dressed and get out here." Marie called from the living room.

"How are you feeling?" the counselor asked Double D; both sides of the observation are needed to make a complete and accurate decision.

"A bit confined, but other than that I'm fine. I haven't been seeing anyone since I left." Double D was a little nervous about talking to someone who was deciding his fate, but he tried his best to sound calm.

"He just thinks he feels fine. He keeps calling me Marie; probably an ex-girlfriend or something. He even had me dress up like she used to." Marie told the counselor.

"Marie! Why are you doing this? Is it because of my relationship with May?" Double D asked in a panicked voice.

"Oh, calm down, I'm just kidding. He's fine. A little on the jumpy side, as you can see, but he's fine." Marie said in a serious tone.

"I will be back in a few days. I hope you continue on the path to recovery." The counselor said as he left.

"You need to relax. Not even my g-string is that tight." Marie teased.

"You're not going to take your pants off, are you?" Double D asked in a cautious voice.

"No, but thanks for the idea; though you would rather see May take her pants off." Marie sighed; she seemed to be really upset about how close he was with May.

"Would you quit talking about her? I can't change the past, but I can make the best of the future. Yes, I do like her, but I like you more. Is it not enough that your absence sent me into severe delusions and consequently the mental asylum?" Double D raised his voice; he had no idea what to do to make her stop worrying about him and May.

"You've known her longer and been through more with her. I've just said hi you to a couple times and gave you a few flirty looks. Well then there was the time we were in the back of the auditorium for the freshman orientation, and I groped you. But that was it. I moved two days later and didn't come back until a few weeks ago." Marie recalled her brief high school experience.

"You at least told me your real name." Double D pointed out.

"May first introduced herself as Ashley. It was only when she broke my delusion that she finally told me who she really was. I don't hold it against her, but I felt like I partially lost connection with her after that. You've always been Marie. You were Marie in high school, and you're Marie now. I knew May as Ashley for almost 3 years before she finally told me the truth. Like I said, I don't blame her for being secretive like that, given our history in middle and high school, but that is why I can't see myself in a relationship with her." Double D let the cat out of the bag; if Marie wasn't convinced after this, he might as well go back to the asylum. Marie was the whole reason he ended up at her house in the first place; if she didn't want him, he didn't want anything to do with the outside world.

"Oh. I...I'm sorry… I guess you've been searching for something real too." Marie wasn't really sure what to say about this discovery.

"Exactly. And I think I've found it; after four years of twists, turns, and drops. If you leave me now, I will have nothing left in this world; my journey that has led me here will have been for nothing." Double D seemed to find the chink in Marie's armor.

"In that case, I will make sure to give you multiple reasons to live." Marie calmly said into his ear as she hugged him and ran slid her hands down his back into his back pockets.

"y-you turn on a dime, d-don't you?" Double D slightly stuttered in from the shock of Marie's sudden emotion change.

"I turn on a lot of things." Marie teased; Double D felt her slightly tighten her embrace.

"d-don't you think you're going a bit fast?" Double D asked as he blushed.

"Not if I'm not going any further." Marie teased.

"I'm not _that_ easy." She added and let go of Double D.

Double D laid awake in bed, thinking about his recent victory. [I finally did it. Through everything that has happened, she is finally mine. ] Double D thought as everything that has happened drifted through his mind. He laid in bed for a few more minutes then decided to go get a glass of water. As he walked to the kitchen, he heard a dull buzzing sound as he walked by Marie's room; he dismissed it as someone calling her and continued to the kitchen. After getting what he came for, he started walking back to his room; passing by Marie's room, he heard the same dull buzz.

"Marie. Someone is calling you." Double D said as he knocked on the door. No answer.

"Marie. Someone is calling you." He said a bit louder and knocked again. Still no reply.

"Marie! Are you alright in there?" he asked; he was getting worried because she usually didn't just ignore him like this. He opened the door and saw that it was dark inside. He slowly went further into the room. As he got closer to the bed, the buzz grew louder and lost its cell phone-like sound. [That's not a phone that's-] he thought in terror as he turned around to walk away when a hand grabbed his leg; he froze in place and felt his face getting hot.

"What do you want?" he heard Marie mumble in a low voice.

"I… I… just heard a noise coming from your room so I thought someone was calling you. You didn't answer so I wanted to make sure you were alright. I didn't mean to…" Double D trailed off.

"Well, if you didn't interrupt me I would have been fine, but since you're here…" Marie said as she pulled on his arm and made him sit down on the bed. She pulled his hand under the covers and put his hand on the alleged cell phone. Double D felt his hand starting to sweat; he tried to move, but he was frozen in shock.

"Oh come on. You imagined riding me, but you can't handle a little misused phone action?" Marie teased him.

"I-I know what a phone feels like…this isn't it." Double D mumbled.

"I wouldn't be complaining. You came in here, so now you're dealing with the consequences. I wouldn't try to leave if I were you; I can have you locked up before you could say 'oh dear'." Marie threatened, but in a flirty tone.

"You would blackmail me like that?" Double D asked in shock.

"Well, I don't know. You said all those sweet things to try to win me over, but then you just went to bed. I think that makes us even." Marie jeered. Double D heard the sound of bed sheets flipping up and felt Marie's hands grab his arms; [I've gone and done it now] Double D thought as she pulled him backward onto the bed. He felt her warm skin on his back and saw her flip the covers back over them.  
"I can feel the phone..." Double D was paralyzed by a rush of mixed emotions.  
"You already said you knew this wasn't a phone, so why not call it what it is?" Marie asked.  
"Don't ask me to say such vulgarities. I'm in mixed company." Double D mumbled timidly. She slid his hand down her stomach until his fingers were parted by the phone.  
"I really think I shouldn't be touching you like this, I just got out today; you said yourself you weren't going far." Double D protested quietly.  
"Then perhaps I shouldn't be touching you like that either." Marie whispered in a seductive tone as she slid her hand into his boxers. Double D shuddered and pleaded for her to stop.  
"We aren't even a couple yet." Double D mumbled weakly.  
"Ugh, fine. Will you go out with me?" Marie asked in an annoyed tone.  
"Y-yes..." Double D timidly agreed.  
"There, now shut up." Marie hissed quietly. She flipped the covers off of them and the rush of cold air startled Double D.  
"W-what if someone comes in?" Double D asked nervously.  
"No one is here. This is my own apartment." Marie was getting frustrated by Double D's endless protests and comments.

Double D woke up the next morning with a flirty-eyed Marie staring at him.  
"I would appreciate it if you didn't so that. It's really intimidating." Double D said timidly.  
"So I heard you imagined me fooling around with another girl." Marie teasingly informed him. Double D turned bright red.  
"M-May told you, didn't she?" Double D asked, even though he already knew the answer.  
"May be." Marie winked at him.  
"Well, I'm going to go eat breakfast. You can join me or eat alone." She added and walked to the kitchen. Double D heard various noises from the kitchen; fridge door opening, a plate being set on the table, drawers opening followed by the clink of silverware. Then silence.  
A few minutes later Marie seemingly just appeared in Double D's room and threw off the bed sheet.  
"Wake up, you lazyboner!" She pulled Double D out of a daydream with her shout.  
"What are you doing?! I'm not dressed!" Double D exclaimed as he blushed and curled up. Marie took her shirt off and threw it at him.  
"There, neither am I. Now get up." Marie commanded and left the room. Double D sighed and got dressed. After put the bed sheets back, he went into the living room to find out what Marie was up in arms about. Without warning, she grabbed him and wrestled him onto the couch.  
"I'm sure you and May didn't wait long, so I'm not going to either. You won't have any drugs to help you this time though." Marie said as she sat on him.  
"I knew her for two years before I tried X with her. She didn't really pressure me like you do." Double D corrected her.  
"Well, if you think I'm waiting two years, you really _are_ crazy." Marie scoffed. As if on cue, Double D's phone vibrated and a quiet moan escaped Marie's lips; she happened to be sitting on his phone which was in his pocket.  
"Hello?" Double D answered.  
"Hey, it's Kaylee. Can you come over? I heard you finally got out. I've been thinking about you." Kaylee asked.  
"Uh... R-right now isn't a good time..." Double D answered nervously.  
"Oh. Well maybe later then? Call me." Kaylee chirped and hung up.

"You can go. I'm not going to keep you from your lover." Marie was up to something, Double D was sure of it.

"She's not my lover. Will you please stop trying to pair me with every girl I talk to?" Double D sighed.

"Ok, since you asked. I know you only want May, anyway" Marie teased and got off him.

"She took the time to call you, so let's go." Marie grabbed the car keys and pulled Double D off the couch.

They arrived at Kaylee's house after Marie squeezed the directions out of Double D. Marie, holding Double D's hand, walked up to the door and knocked.

"Double D! Hi!" Kaylee chirped and hugged him tightly; Double D felt her hands go into his back pocket.

"So this is the girl you imagined me with?" Marie asked as they walked in.

"Yeah, I just didn't know at the time she was real and you were imagined." Double D remembered that night.

"I've been thinking about you recently. I wasn't happy with what happened at first, but then I realized that was the closest thing I've had to an actual relationship. You visited decently often, we never argued; except for that one time you were arguing with yourself, and you knew how to show me a good time." Kaylee winked at him as she said that last part of her realization.

"Not that I would really know good from bad; you're the first guy I've been with." She added and blushed slightly.

"Really? Your first time and he was thinking about someone else? That just won't do." Marie said as she reached from behind Double D and grabbed Kaylee's arm; Double D was now sandwiched between the two of them.

"Marie! What are you doing?!" Double D asked in a panicked voice.

"She said she wants the D, so you're going to give it to her. And not think about me this time!" Marie explained and slid Double D's hand into Kaylee's pants; Double D tried to move but Marie held it in place.

"What? No! We are a couple now! I can't be doing this!" Double D yelped in protest.

"Oh. So we are. Well then, this is kind of awkward…" Marie sounded shocked that Double D remembered her asking him out; she let go of Double D and Kaylee.

"I guess we will be going now…" Marie mumbled awkwardly.

The rest of the 90-day observation period was awkward and filled with mixed signals on Marie's part.

"So now that the observation is over, you still want to come live with me? I mean, we've already been living together for 3 months anyway." Double D offered.

"I… I don't know what to say…" Marie was shocked that he still offered her to move in with him even after these 3 months of awkwardness, cold shoulders, and mixed signals.

"The only thing I've been thinking about since I got out of the asylum." Double D whispered as he gently made her walk backwards to a nearby wall until she was pinned between him and the wall.

"Double D, I-mmph…" Marie started to protest but fell silent as Double D kissed her softly; Marie was used to being the dominant one in her encounters with Double D, so having someone else in control was making her blush. Double D slowly moved his hands down her back and into her sweatpants.

"Ok, you win! I'll start packing today." Marie blurted out. She knew if she let Double D continue, she would most likely permanently lose control; she enjoyed making Double D blush too much to let that happen.

"Your romantic moments kind of scare me. I'm not trying to be a bitch when I say this, but you are the least romantic person I've met. It's hardly romance when your boyfriend blushes because you looked at him the wrong way." Marie admitted.

"I really appreciated all of the sweet things you've told me, though." She added with a smile. She walked off to start packing and Double D went off to his room to do the same.


	15. Chapter 15

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

"So… this is your room…" Marie smirked as she looked around Double D's room.

"Kind of dark, but I don't mind." She walked to the desk and saw the sketchbooks; curiosity instantly overtook her.

"Oh, this I've got to see." Marie said as she opened to the first page. Double D realized what sketchbook she picked up and dashed to take it out of her hands.

"No! Not this one. It's… from my delusions. It's kind of personal so I would appreciate it if you didn't look through it." Double D made a grab for it but Marie moved it out of the way and he unwittingly grabbed something else.

"My boobs are kind of personal too, yet here you are…" Marie teased. Double D's hand recoiled and he blushed slightly. She started looking through the sketchbook.

"There are a lot of pictures of me not wearing a shirt. Seeing this, it's kind of hard to believe that you're as shy as you act." Marie pointed out.

"I was hallucinating at the time. I thought _you_ drew them." Double D defended himself.

"If I drew them, I wouldn't lie about my bust size." Marie jeered and showed him the drawing of her lying on a couch. Double D stuttered incoherently and blushed.

"Sorry to disappoint, but they aren't as big as you drew them. This is closer to May." Marie joked.

"Ok, enough about May. She helped me through some tough times. I provided an ear that would listen. We became close friends. That's it. I love you, Marie. And only you. And I will say it as many times as I need to." Double D said firmly.

"You provided more than an ear. If you know what I mean." Marie teased.

"Alright! Yes, we had sex. Let's all be immature about it like it's the funniest shit ever." Double D raised his voice and threw up his arms.

"I… I'm sorry…" Marie mumbled timidly; she looked like she was about to cry.

"I didn't mean to raise my voice. I just get tired of hearing everything getting made into a May jab." Double D said calmly; he felt bad for raising his voice at her.

"Hey, this is pretty good; considering you've never seen me like this." Marie commented when she saw the picture titled "Covered in Bs".

"Oh, it's like that, huh?" Marie teased when she noticed the title.

"Well, I just thought it was funny so I put that as the title." Double D smiled nervously. Double D didn't notice Marie took her shirt off until it covered his face.

"hey what's-" Double D started to talk but fell silent when he felt his head being gently pushed against Marie's chest. Double D didn't resist as he usually would; this made Marie slightly suspicious.

"You're not getting awkward and squirmy as you usually do. You're obviously up to something." Marie said in a slightly accusing tone.

"No, I still feel a little awkward and want to move away, but I'm trying to keep it on the inside; you've got a great body and I don't want to make you worry that you are not attractive enough for me." Double D explained his lack of resistance.

Marie finally settled into the house after a week or so; she's never lived in a big house like Double D's. Double D was slowly getting more comfortable with physical contact from her; Marie was slightly irritated by the "slowly" part, but she was dealing with it out of growing feelings for him.

Marie went to take a shower while Double D was out running some errands. [I will probably be out before he gets back. I know how he is with walking into a room without thinking and I know how I am about actually closing doors.] She thought as she walked to the bathroom. About the time she stepped into the shower, Double D came home but she didn't hear him. She turned the water on and took her shower as usual. Meanwhile, Double D went to put up the few groceries he bought while he was out. [Ugh, I actually sweat a bit from all of that. I'm going to go take a shower before Marie decides she wants to get close.] He thought as he grabbed a change of clothes and headed to the bathroom. Marie had finished her shower and turned the water off by the time he got there. Double D walked in and set his change of clothes on the water tank of the toilet. He turned the water on, got undressed and got into the shower. Marie stood statue still as she watched Double D start his shower, completely unaware of her presence. Double D had lathered up his hair and blindly reached back for the body wash. Marie watched in silent terror as his hand reached back and groped her. [Wait this is…THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE IN HERE!] His mind shouted. Double D's unsolicited and nonchalant grab at her made her blush intensely.

The two of them stood statue still for a few minutes until Marie finally broke the silence.

"I-I was…done anyway…um…I...should leave you to your shower." Marie mumbled in an awkward tone. Double D made some stuttering noises but gave no coherent reply. Double D finished his shower and walked out with the towel by accident. Marie finally stepped out of the shower and noticed the towel was gone. [I'm not sure if he just forgot or did it on purpose. If it's on purpose, I'll beat him at his own game.] Marie thought as she walked to his room.

"Hey, you walked off with the towel. If you really want to see me naked, you can just ask." Marie leaned against the doorframe.

"Oh, sorry let me- oh…" Double D turned around to hand her the towel and froze when he noticed she wasn't wearing anything; he knew there were several hand-towels she could have used to cover herself, so he wasn't expecting her to just walk in with nothing.

"Don't just stand there, give me the towel already!" Marie raised her voice as she blushed; she saw that he was clearly getting turned on by seeing her naked and this made her blush a shade brighter.

"S-sorry…" Double D stuttered and tossed her the towel. Marie went back to the shower and got dressed. There was a few seconds of silence, then the sound of Marie's door closing, then silence again. [I should probably go check on her. I could definitely sense some tension.] Double D decided and walked to Marie's room; he knocked on the door to avoid making things any more awkward.

"What do you want?" Marie grumbled.  
"I wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." Double D said through the door.  
"It wouldn't have happened if I closed the door properly." Marie said dismissively.  
"Oh it's not your fault. Stuff happens." Double D didn't want her to think it was her fault.  
"You're not going to come in?" Marie asked.  
"Are you dressed?" Double D asked; he didn't want to have a repeat of the shower incident so soon after the first one.  
"What does it matter?" Marie answered dismissively. Double D opened the door and walked in. Marie was lying on her bed, facing away from him. He went over to the bed as laid down next to her.  
"With an answer like that, I was honestly slightly disappointed to see you dressed." Double D joked.  
"Didn't see enough in the shower?" Marie teased.  
"Didn't feel enough." Double D teased as he put his arm around her. Marie blushed slightly, expecting him to feel her up after that comment; her expectations weren't met.  
"So now that you've seen me naked; it was a little earlier than I planned but like you said "stuff happens", what's your next move?" Marie asked him; she was a master at mind games when it came to talking to Double D.  
"You can't just ask stuff like that. Whatever happens, happens." Double D deflected her question, leaving her kind of shocked. [I'm not sure if he just beat me at my own game or if he's just avoiding the question...] Marie thought as she laid in bed; Double D's arm around her, this was definitely a rare occurrence. They laid there for a few minutes until they were interrupted by Double D's phone.  
"Mmph, do you set your phone on vibrate and then get close to me on purpose?" A small moan escaped Marie as Double D answered his phone.  
"Hey, it's Kaylee. You mind if I come over in the evening?" Kaylee asked.  
"Yeah, sure. I don't think we are doing anything." Double D agreed.  
"We?" Kaylee sounded confused.  
"Marie and I live together now." Double D explained.  
"Oh. Well that's cool. I'll see you tonight, then." Kaylee said and ended the call.  
"One of your girlfriends coming over?" Marie teased.  
"She's not my-... Yeah. She misses what she had with me." Double D joked; making a joke about his "girlfriends" was a first for him and it made Marie smile.  
"So she misses you coming over and groping her while thinking about me? All this time I've thought you were a shy, nerdy kid; it's just a front and you're really a master player." Marie joked.  
"Oh totally. I could also call Nazz, Ed's sister, and May to make this a full-blown harem." Double D joked, but a bit too far.  
" May again? So you _do_ still want her?" Marie asked; Double D forgot this was sensitive subject for her.  
"No. I'm sorry. I forgot that was a sensitive subject for you." Double D apologized for taking his joke too far.  
"I think that was a Freudian slip and you're just lying about it." Marie sounded unconvinced.  
"Since we are on the topic of sensitive subjects..." Double D teased as he slid his hand into her shirt.  
"Don't you try to-...hhhhaaaa!" Marie's protest about changing the subject was interrupted by Double D's cold hand touching her warm skin. He has really turned the tables on Marie because it was now _her_ that was blushing from _his_ touch.  
"These...surprises are driving me sharp exhale crazy." Marie mumbled.  
"I learned from the best." Double D teased.  
Later that day, Kaylee came over to visit.  
"So you are finally living together. The real you this time." Kaylee said as she looked around.  
"Yeah, I'm just hoping he doesn't go stealing my underwear. I don't think I want to see that." Marie joked.  
"We have nothing to drink. This is kind of embarrassing. I've got company and an under stocked fridge. I'm going to quickly run to the store and pick up some juice. I would get beer, but you have to drive." Double D said as he was leaving.  
"Hey, she can spend the night. Go and get the beer." Marie used her "I'm brewing up trouble" voice. Double D grabbed his keys and headed off to the store. There was surprisingly less people than he expected when he got there; it's the dinner rush, so usually people are lined up buying various collections of food. He bought the beer and some juice for nonparty drinking, and drove home. When he got inside, it was unusually dark; not a light on in the house that he could see. He put the beer and juice in the refrigerator and slowly made his way to Marie's room; if there was someone here, he wanted to get the drop on them. If he was noticed, he wouldn't be able to do much, but if he had the element of surprise, he could take care of a lone intruder. When he got to Marie's room, he heard what sounded like a muffled giggle. He went to his room and grabbed his iPod cord; he could garrote the bastard. He went back to Marie's room and slowly opened the door. As he walked into the room, he misjudged where the computer table was and lightly bumped into it. The impact, however small, made the mouse move which woke the computer from its standby mode. The monitor turned on and illuminated the room with an eerie blueish light. He could suddenly see two shadowy figures sitting on Marie's bed, frozen into statues. He went to turn on the light to reveal their identity. It was Marie and Kaylee, both naked and seemingly frozen in time during a kiss. They were both blushing intensely; this brought back memories of the time he walked in on Kaylee and imagined Marie. The three of them were frozen in time for a few minutes until Kaylee finally spoke.  
"I'm only in your imagination. You should leave Marie to her... Business." Kaylee bluffed in her best mysterious voice.  
"You're right. This is just an intense flashback. I'll sit on the bed and it will bring me back to reality." Double D agreed. He sat down on the bed and turned towards Kaylee.  
"I can almost see through you. I'm glad this isn't a solid hallucination. You will disappear when I try to touch you." He assured himself as he groped her.  
"Eep! What are you doing? Your girlfriend is right there!" Kaylee yelped.  
"I... I'm sorry I can't provide you with the physical attention you need..." He said timidly as he looked at Marie.  
"N-no, it's... Not like that...we just got to talking about that night you walk in on her and saw me with her, and I kind of got hot hearing about it; things kind of got out of hand..." Marie explained in a shy voice.  
"And other things got into hand, right?" Double D lightly ran his fingers down Marie's hand that was coming out of Kaylee's underwear. Marie gained a shade of red on top of her existing dozen.  
"I..." Marie started to talk but trailed off.  
"Kaylee, I... I appreciate you providing what I could not as of yet." Double D said as he put his hand on her shoulder.  
"I think I need a beer. Or 5." Marie sighed and went to the kitchen.  
"Well, at least we are both real this time?" Kaylee gave an awkward smile.  
"It's... It's fine. Really. I... I've been neglecting her physically. I just can't seem to make myself touch her. It's not like I'm not attracted to her; it's quite the opposite." Double D tried to assure Kaylee she didn't do anything wrong. Kaylee took his hands and put them on her.  
"Hey, I can't be doing this. I love Marie too much." Double D told her and tried to move his hands but Kaylee grabbed on and held them by force.  
"Let go, are you trying to get me in trouble?" Double D panicked.  
"I miss what we had. We never argued, you came by frequently. You actually gave me the physical attention I wanted. At first I wasn't happy about it, but then I realized it was one of the beat relationships I've had. It's true when they say 'you don't realize what you have until it's gone'." Kaylee admitted her feelings.  
"Oh. I seem to be interrupting something. Car-" Marie said as she walked into the room and was cut short by Double D.  
"It's not what it looks like! I'm being held hostage!" Double D protested.  
"Looks like you've got a couple hostages yourself. If you know what I mean." Marie jeered.  
"I'm serious, though! She won't let go!" Double D tried to refocus Marie on the subject at hand; or _in_ hand, as the case may be.  
"Alright, you can let him go. You can both get yours later." Marie said as she took a drink of her beer.  
"He won't even touch you; you had to come to me for attention. He's freely touched, and more, me before." Kaylee sounded intent on claiming Double D for herself.  
" only because he thought you were me. I understand touching a real person is different than fooling around with a hallucination." Marie explained casually. Kaylee sighed and let go of Double D's hands.  
"I'm sorry, Kaylee. I've come too far and love Marie too much to throw it away for someone I met through a hallucination. I'm sure you understand. I think we can still be friends, though." Double D said as he hugged her.  
"I guess..." She sighed as she hugged him back; her hands sliding into his back pockets.  
"I think you should go. Before either of us get into trouble." Double D suggested.  
"Yeah... I should go before you get any harder." She mumbled.  
"I mean_ it_ gets any harder. For me to leave." She corrects herself; both Double D and Marie knew what she really meant. As she got off the bed, she purposefully bumped into Double D's head with her chest.  
"She's almost as crazy as you are." Marie said after Kaylee left.  
"I don't think she imagines people into existence. She's just desperate and lonely. And a bit jealous." Double D shared his observation.  
"I... I wanted to personally apologize for the lack of physical attention I've given you. I've never had to deal with any physical contact until now, so I'm trying to adjust." Double D admitted.  
"Well, you've got the chance to make it up to me right now." Marie gave him a coquettish smile. Double D blushed slightly.  
"The hardest thing for me is touching someone else. I usually keep to myself." Double D mumbled.  
"Well, I'll help you then." Marie said as she took his hands and put them on her. Double D gained a few shades of red but didn't try to move his hands.  
"Oh come on, seriously? You just saw me with my hand in another girl's underwear and you're still blushing when touching your own girlfriend? I'm starting to think this is a pointless battle." Marie sighed with frustration.  
"I can't control it. And I almost burned alive when I saw you and Kaylee like that." Double D admitted.  
"I would have put you out. Even though you don't." Marie teased.


	16. Chapter 16

Copyright Danny Antonucci and produced by a.k.a. Cartoon. All band names and lyrics Copyright of their respective owners.

Today was officially six months since Marie and Double D started going out, so they decided to celebrate with a movie. Through overly complex mind games that not even she fully understood, she convinced Double D to watch a horror movie with her; Psycho. Double D was still hesitant about watching it, but he decided to tough it out and watch it anyway; he had as much respect as love for Marie, so there was little he wouldn't do for her. Double D was holding onto Marie for most of the movie.  
"Double D, I really hate to say this, but, you kind of smell. I know you sweat when you're really scared, so I know that's from the movie, but still. I'd like to get close to you again sometime today. So yeah..." Marie said in a low voice.  
"You want me to take a shower after watching THAT movie? I don't think so." Double D scoffed.  
"Please? I really need some closeness after a movie like that." Marie asked sweetly.  
"You know I'm a sucker for a pretty voice." Double D agreed and turned to go to the shower.  
"And I'm a sucker for... Hey, are you going to get a change of clothes? It's kind of cold not to." Marie asked.

"Although, I wouldn't mind if you didn't" she teased. Double D went and got a change of clothes, then headed to the shower. Marie listens to the shower running for a few minutes, then has an idea.  
[Oh, this is just terrible. But I want to do it.] She thought as she went into the kitchen. She got one of the big steak knives from the knife rack and went to her room; passing by the bathroom, she noticed the door was not pushed closed. [Oh, now I have to do it.] She thought as a smile crept across her face. She looked up the shower murder theme from Psycho and turned up the speakers. She hit play and walked to the bathroom; [he's going to hate me for this, but it is so worth it.] she thought as she waited for the music to start. There was a few seconds of silence while the song buffered, and then it was show time. Waited a few notes, and then started raising the steak knife slowly while creeping towards the shower. She was about to take a third step when she heard an ear-splitting scream, followed by a body collapsing in the shower. [Maybe that was a bit much. Still worth it, though.] She thought as she pulled back the curtain to check on Double D. His eyes were almost popping out of his head; he was shaking and didn't appear to be conscious. She turned off the water and carried him into her room, laying him on the floor.

"You planned all of that, didn't you? I don't think I deserved that." Double D mumbled weakly when he came to.

"I'm sorry. I just couldn't resist. I'll understand if you don't talk to me for a few days." Marie apologized.

"Honestly, I am kind of angry with you for scaring me like that. But I'm not going to last even 5 minutes without talking to you. I think sometimes you take advantage of the fact that I can't stay mad at you for more than 5 minutes." Double D admitted.

"I'll be sure to make it up to you later." Marie said in a flirty tone and winked at him. [It's a bit cold in here…] Double D thought before realizing he wasn't dressed. Double D made a "yip!" noise and bolted into the bathroom. He finished his shower and went to his room to get dressed. [Times like this, I'm not sure whether she is just having fun or trying to kill me via heart failure.] Double D thought as he lay on his bed. A few minutes later, he slipped into a dream.

Double D and Marie were getting ready for a big dinner they were invited to. They had spent almost 2 hours preparing clothes, cologne, and everything else possible to look their best. Marie went to take a shower while Double D was finishing his suit layout.

"There. I don't think I can possibly make any more improvements." Double D stood back and admired his work. [I'm going to go check on Marie and her…progress] Double D thought with a smile and walked to the bathroom. He very quietly opened the door and got undressed. [I hope Double D is ready. He was still messing with his suit when I went in for my shower.] Marie thought as she was rinsing her hair. She was about to reach for the handle to turn the shower off when she felt two hands cup her and gently pull her to a warm body; she blushed and froze in place.

"Guess who." Double D whispered into her ear.

"D-don't do that. You scared me. Are you- oh…" Marie started to ask him if he was ready when she felt something unusually warm poke her thigh.

"w-we should be getting ready." Marie said weakly. Double D started to say something, but there was no sound; the scene started to slowly dissolve until there was just a black void left.

Double D woke up feeling very hot and starting to sweat. [My body is starting to really raise hell because of my dislike of physical contact.] Double D thought as he lay in bed, thinking about the dream he just had. He decided to go tell Marie about it; he knew it was late, but also knew she would only be glad to see him climb into her bed on his own. He slowly climbed into Marie's bed and got close to her. [I'm awake again… I blame Double D. he's always so 'omg you're naked!' or 'omg I shouldn't be touching you like this!' and I'm starting to think I'm not good enough for him, even though it is only subconsciously. He's told me count-] Marie's thoughts were interrupted by the feeling of a hand sliding over her bra, followed by cold fingers touching her warm skin; the high contrast of temperatures made Double D's fingers feel like needles when they touched her. Marie's heartbeat quickened significantly and she felt her face start to get hot.

"I had a dream about you a few minutes ago." Double D whispered.

"w-what h-happened in it?" Marie asked; she was shivering from the sudden cold, intimate contact.

"We were getting ready for a big dinner party, and you were in the shower. I decided to go see how you were coming along. You were almost like jello in my hands, and then I woke up." Double D gave her the basics of the dream.  
" so after waking up sweaty and aroused, you thought you would share the feeling?" Marie asked; she was slowly starting to feel hot herself.  
"Wasn't my original intention, but I have no problem with that being a side effect." Double D gave his best flirty tone, but it came out a bit awkward.  
"Aw, you're trying to sound flirty. I appreciate it, but I think you should stick to more...physical gestures." She whispered as she ran her hand over his. Double D gave no response.  
"Did you seriously fall asleep already?" Marie asked as she lightly jabbed him with her elbow; still no response.  
The next morning, Double D woke up a few seconds before Marie; his hand still on her in the same position.  
"Mm, good morning to you too." Marie mumbled in a voice that was a mix between seductive and half-asleep.  
"I love you a lot, but if you snuck into my shower and felt me up like in your dream, I would probably kill you." Marie admitted.  
"Such is the price of dying happy. Almost worth it, except for the fact that I won't get to see you again afterwards." Double D teased. Marie got up and went to wash her face, brush her teeth, and make breakfast. [I have got to grab the proverbial bull by the horns and get over this fear of touching people. Marie will most definitely thank me for it.] Double D thought as he laid in bed for a few minutes. Finally, he got up and quietly walked to the bathroom. He snuck up behind Marie and slowly slid his hands up her shirt; discovering she wasn't wearing a bra. Marie sprayed water all over the mirror; she was rinsing her mouth from brushing her teeth and Double D's sudden presence startled her. He saw her face turn bright red as she swung at him; he narrowly dodged it, and was starting to have second thoughts about grabbing this bull in particular.  
"You idiot, I could have choked!" Marie shouted.  
"Sorry! I tried to be open like you want me to be, but when I noticed I was in over my head it was too late." Double D apologized in a panicked voice.  
"It's... It's ok. It's the thought that counts." Marie smiled; her blush seemed to be fading.  
"Part of me wants to think that you tried to scare me into choking just so you could give me mouth-to-mouth." Marie teased.  
"I wouldn't risk my most valuable treasure like that when I can just do this." Double D smiled warmly as he turned her towards him and kissed her.  
"Oh, wow...I hope I don't find you unconscious in your room after this. I might have to take advantage of you." Marie mumbled dreamily as she walked off to make breakfast and Double D went to lie down for a couple minutes; Marie wouldn't find him unconscious in his room, but his head was spinning from the encounter in the bathroom. [How can I do that more readily? And more importantly, how can I do that without getting dizzy afterward?] Double D thought about the bathroom encounter as he laid in bed. He was slowly making progress, but he felt that he should be further along by now. He randomly got the idea to look to his Magic cards for an answer; a lot of them had seemingly philosophical names, so why not? Dealing with Marie definitely felt like a Magic tournament match sometimes. He walked over to his desk and opened the drawer. He picked up his deck and started shuffling it; he wasn't really expecting an answer, he was just curious what he would come up. He finished shuffling and drew a card; Force of Will. [That's it! It all comes down to my own will. If I don't actually go out and do it, I'll never just 'get used to it'. Although it does come at a cost, it is well worth it.] He thought as he put the card back into his deck and the deck back into his desk drawer. He went to eat breakfast, and then to run some errands that gathered over the last couple days. [Double D is coming out of his shell. I know I wanted this, but at the same time I wish he wasn't; I like being the one in control of our encounters. Well, not even as much control as just I show him some skin and he blushes and stops moving. Or I put his hands on me and get the same reaction. It will take a little getting used to, but I think I will like it in the long run.] She thought as she finished eating; Double D ate unusually quick and left to do his errands. [Now that I think about it, him walking into my shower doesn't sound too bad; I hope I haven't scared him off from that idea.] Marie smiled as she cleaned up the table.  
Double D returned about an hour later, but didn't say anything and just went to his room. Marie decided it was just "one of his days" and continued watching TV. [Ok, I've got to get something done.] She thought as the show she was watching ended. She went into her room and started to organize and clean up her closet; she had been kind of lazy during the week, so there were some shirts and a pair of pants on the floor. About midway through the cleaning, Double D came into her room, but she didn't notice him. She was deciding what to do with a shirt she picked up off the floor when she felt Double D gently lean against her and kiss her neck; she dropped the shirt she was holding from the wave of prickles Double D had sent through her body by kissing her.  
"Oh... Wh... What's this for?" Marie moaned softly.  
"It's time I made up for the lack of attention you've gotten from me." Double D whispered into her ear; Marie could feel her cheeks slightly blush. Double D's hands slid down her body and stopped at her waist, unbuttoning her jeans. The sound of her zipper opening spurred her to talk.  
"D-Double D... I have a confession to make. I secretly liked you being shy when I made you touch me or got undressed around you. I liked having a sort of control in our encounters." Marie admitted and gained a few shades of red from doing so.  
"I think I can lead for once. I've got a good teacher." Double D teased as he slowly took off her pants.  
"I... I've..." Marie struggled to talk; having someone else in control was a new and slightly awkward experience for her. Having that someone be Double D took it to another level. Double D gently laid her on the bed and lay down next to her.  
"So what is it like to have someone else in control for once?" Double D asked as he slowly slid his hand up her shirt.  
"It's something to get -hmm!- used to." Double D's cold fingers touching her warm skin caused a short moan to escape.  
"Why do you always have cold hands?" Marie asked.  
"My circulation in my hands is bad. I'm warm where it counts, though." Double D teased.  
"I think_ I_ will take off my shirt. Your fingers feel like needles when you touch me." Marie told him and slowly slid it off; it was a little cold in the room, but they would soon fix that.  
"My hands have to get warm _somehow_." Double D whispered into her ear as he put his hand on the inside of her thigh. Marie yelped and tried to throw him on the bed but Double D hugged her tightly.  
"Just... Be gentle..." Marie said timidly.  
"You really have to tell me? It's taken me 8 months to even get this far and I'm still nervous but forcefully ignoring it. If anything, you'll want me to be _less_ gentle." Double D scoffed. [Well, he's got a point. If he's still nervous after all the advances I've made towards him, we might have some problems.] She thought as he reached to unhook her bra.  
"A-are you ok with this? I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable. You're kind of quiet." Double D asked nervously.  
"If you ask one more -ah!- stupid question..." Marie grumbled as she slid his hand into her underwear: the chill of his fingertips pierced through to her soul and forced out a sharp moan. Double D didn't say another word.

It was just another day living at Double D's house, but he was acting very strange today.  
"I can't find my phone, can I use yours? I've got to call May to ask her something." Marie asked.  
"No, it's not about you." she teased. Double D hands her his phone and walked off to his room; Marie thought this was a bit odd but dismissed it as him giving her privacy. She dialed the number and hit 'send'.

"Hey, Double D. what's up?" May answered.

"Hey, It's Marie. I couldn't find my phone so I asked Double D if I could use his." Marie explained.

"Oh. How are you two? Last I saw, you two didn't exactly look like you were on good terms with each other." May asked with concern in her voice.

"We've actually been a couple for almost a year now. We worked out our differences." Marie said as she smiled; she knew May couldn't see it, but just saying that made her smile.

"Well, you let Double D know that I'm here if he ever needs someone to talk to." May said with a smile on her end of the call.

"Will do. Well, I'm going to let you go. I think Double D and I are going somewhere." Marie completely forgot what she originally called her for. [That's a bit weird… what does she mean by "needs someone to talk to."? He's got me...] Marie thought as she ended the call. As she pulled the phone away from her face she noticed there was a notification about a multimedia message from Kaylee. [Oh, this I've got to see.] She thought as she opened the message; Marie usually respected Double D's privacy, except for the occasional time when he is in the shower and hasn't given her much attention that day. The message opened and played a video of a completely naked Kaylee pleasuring herself. Right as the video ended, Double D took the phone out of her hand and said he was going to go run some errands; before she could say anything, he disappeared into garage. [Ok, this just got a whole new level of weird. No. It's not what I think. It can't be. It's not. I refuse to believe it.] Marie pushed the thought out of her head.

Two hours had passed, and no word from Double D; she texted him a couple of times, but still no answer. A few minutes later she called him and it just rang until the voice mail picked up. [This isn't happening. He always answers. Sometimes in the middle of the first ring. No. he must have forgotten his phone in the car. Or maybe just didn't hear it because he forgot to turn it off of silent. We've been together for almost a year. He wouldn't just throw it away for some crazy pair of boobs he met through a hallucination. No. he will come home and clear everything up. I'm just getting worried over a questionable sequence of events.] Her mind was racing and she couldn't seem to calm down. Finally, she heard the front door open and Double D walked in.

"Double D! I'm so glad you're home! I've been worried sick!" She sobbed. Double D walked over to her and hugged her tightly; Marie felt a bulge dig into her hip as he did so.

Her sadness instantly turned to anger as she moved away and slapped him across the face.

"You bastard! How could you? First you say you're going to 'run some errands' and then you come home and dare hug me with your errand hard-on!" Marie shouted as she stormed off to her room and slammed the door. [I don't know what that was about, but I better go explain where I was _right now_.] He thought as he briskly walked to Marie's room. He only had time to take a couple steps inside before he was met by Marie charging at him. He wrapped his arms around her and held on tightly; she struggled furiously, but he didn't let go.

"Marie! Listen! It's not what you think!" Double D tried to explain.

"You got a video from Kaylee pleasuring herself with an old cell phone, and then you disappeared for two hours and didn't answer any of my calls. To top it all off, you came home with a raging hard-on and hugged me like nothing even happened!" Marie growled.

"Hold on a minute! Kaylee sent me a video of her doing _what_? And no, I haven't had any activity down there all day today." Double D asked; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. Double D pulled out his phone and looked at his texts. Sure enough, there was a 15-second video of Kaylee, lying naked on her couch, holding a cell phone between her legs; he could hear a faint buzzing noise throughout the whole video. Double D blushed.

"I had to call a few people from that phone. That is so gross." Double D said in a disgusted tone.

"Marie, you're the only person who can truly turn me on and keep me up for more than just a couple seconds. I thought you knew that already." Double D told her in a calm voice.

"Well, we will just see about that." Marie grumbled; she still sounded angry, but she stopped struggling so Double D let go of her. Marie got a closer look at what she felt earlier and saw that the bulge was actually off-center from where _that_ kind of bulge would usually be. She reached into his pants pocket and felt nothing; the surprise of feeling nothing caused her to linger in his pocket for a few seconds. Suddenly she felt something warm slowly brush against her fingers; she blushed slightly, and felt slightly relieved. She reached into his jacket pocket and felt a strange material that was firm yet fuzzy to the touch. She pulled it out and saw that it was a ring box; Double D turned a light shade of red when he saw what Marie pulled out of his pocket. She opened the box and saw a beautiful white gold ring holding a diamond. She stared at the ring for a minute as her face turned bright red and tears started to well up in her eyes.

"You don't even have to ask. I'm sorry I ever doubted you." She sobbed as she hugged him tightly.

"You have no idea how happy this makes me." She said in a quivering voice.

"I guess that goes for both of us." Double D also felt his face getting hot and tears slowly starting to gather in his eyes as he put his arms around her.

After much hardship, sadness, and lonely nights, Marie was finally truly happy. Her life had begun a new chapter and she couldn't ask for a better co-author to help her write it.


End file.
